In their first game of the 2023 IIHF World Championship, the Swiss were solid in a 7-0 win over Slovenia. Denis Malgin and Gaetan Haas led the offence with three points each, while veteran Leonardo Genoni made 14 saves for the shutout.
The Slovenes were looking for their first-ever win against Switzerland. The only point they’ve ever earned was in a 5-4 shootout loss in 2017.
“Luckily, there aren't a lot of guys on this team who played at that game in Paris,” chucked Andres Ambuhl, who did play. “But you remember those games, and I think that's a little bit why we were ready from the beginning and kept going right until the end.”
Slovenia did a decent job of containing Switzerland at even strength but the Swiss power play was on fire, going 4-for-5. Slovenia was 0-for-2.
“We had a good PP today,” said Malgin. “We have great guys and we try to move the puck quick, but I think we can get even better. We’re still getting to know each other and I just got here this week.”
“We saw they have a good power play and they punished us there,” said Slovenian captain Jan Urbas. “Especially those penalties in the offensive zone, we’ve gotta get better at that.”
Switzerland scored twice in the first period 34 seconds apart.
The first goal came on the game’s first power play and it took Switzerland just 11 seconds to strike, when Malgin one-timed a perfect pass from Dean Kukan. Then the Swiss went right back to the attack, worked the puck around the Slovenian zone and Janis Moser snapped a shot from the slot over the arm of Kroselj.
“We were equal until the first penalty and after that I feel our game dropped a bit,” said Slovene forward Nik Simsic. “We had some time in the first and second when we were playing well, maybe even dominating the play in the offensive zone. We had some chances, so we have to build on that and work on scoring on our chances.”
The biggest threat to Genoni’s shutout came in the first minute of the second period. The Swiss goalie made a mistake behind the net and had to scramble back into the crease while the Slovenes pressured hard, but the puck stayed out amid a wild scramble.
The Swiss had a bunch of chances to widen their lead early in the second period, the best when the puck came to Calvin Thurkauf with lots of open net to shoot at, but he misfired and the puck slid into Kroselj’s pad.
The only goal of the middle frame came, naturally, on the power play when Nino Niederreiter got his stick on Malkin’s shot and deflected it through Kroselj’s legs.
The Swiss added two more power-play goals in the first four minutes of the third period. Malgin scored his second of the game by potting a rebound on the open near side, and then Thurkauf atoned for his earlier miscue, finishing off a play after a turnover at the blueline.
The only power play that Switzerland failed to capitalize on, the puck went into the net just 10 seconds after the penalty expired off the stick of Marco Miranda to make it 6-0. Christoph Bertschy rounded out the scoring by tucking a puck inside the near post with 2:55 to play.
In the dying minutes, with no hope of winning anymore, Slovenia nonetheless turned up the heat to try to get on the board, but to no avail.
“Leo did an amazing job today, but we need to help him out a bit more,” said Thurkauf. “He had a lot to do in the end when we gave up too many chances, but we can clean that up over the next couple of games and be ready when it counts.”
