WORLDS: Howard, Samanski & Ekholm all produce points for nations on Day 6 in Switzerland

SWITZERLAND – The Blue & Orange were all over the scoresheet in Fribourg & Zurich.

Isaac Howard's goal and assist for the United States in a 4-3 shootout victory over Josh Samanski & Team Germany headlined a productive slate of games for Oilers skaters who were in action Wednesday on Day 6 of the 2026 IIHF World Championship.

Howard played a leading role with his second straight multi-point game in the win, scoring his team-leading third goal of the tournament to erase a fast start from Germany that saw Samanski assist on Moritz Seider's quick opener before collecting a helper on Max Sasson's 2-1 tally over five minutes into the second.

Samanski went toe-to-toe with Howard by picking up an early assist on Seider's tally just a minute into regulation before going on to finish with the most faceoffs taken in 17:13 of total ice time, winning six of 16 draws, while also stepping up and scoring for Germany in the first round of the shootout.

Howard & the United States (1-1-0-2, eight points) created some separation in the Group A standings over Germany (0-0-1-3, one point) with the victory and will face Latvia on Friday. Samanski & Germany's next match is a crucial one against Hungary on Thursday as they look to pull themselves out of a relegation battle.

Over in Group B, Mattias Ekholm & Sweden had a much easier time against the Slovaks to pick up their second straight win in preliminary action after the Oilers defenceman scored one of their six unanswered goals in a 6-0 shutout at Swiss Life Arena in Zurich.

The 36-year-old recorded a power-play assist on Jacob De La Rose's final-minute marker in the first before blasting one past Slovenia goalie Zan Us from the right circle to make it 6-0  to finish a four-goal second period and six unanswered from the Swedes.

Ekholm now leads all defencemen at Worlds with three goals to go with his helper through four games at the tournament, with Sweden improving to 2-0-0-2 (six points) with an 18-11 goal difference through four games as they currently sit fourth in Group B ahead of match with Italy on Friday.