The World Championships have six games on tap today in Russia.
Group A Preliminary Games
5:15 AM ET: Russia vs Kazakhstan
One day after shocking the Swiss in a shootout for their first win in 21 World Championship games, Kazakhstan takes on the host Russians. A lot of these players know each other from the KHL and the only thing missing from this rivalry is the competitiveness. Russia needs a win after losing 3-0 to a Czech Republic team that struggled to beat Latvia. The fans may get restless if they don’t score early. The game will be shown on TSN2 in Canada
9:15 AM ET: Norway vs Switzerland
Switzerland looks to rebound from their loss yesterday. The point they got for losing in a shootout may come up big as we get later in the tournament. Reto Berra allowed a goal from the opposite blue line in yesterday’s game and that could mean that Robert Mayer, the former Canadiens prospect, will get the start. Norway outplayed Denmark at times throughout their game yesterday but couldn’t beat Sebastian Dahm in a 3-0 loss. The game will be shown on TSN 4/5 in Canada
It was always going to be an uphill climb for Sweden in this tournament but no one expected them to have so much trouble against Latvia in a 2-1 overtime win. It has turned out to be a pretty good weekend for Nyqvists after Gustav scored the OT winner on Friday, and the horse named Nyqvist won the Kentucky Derby yesterday. This game is huge for Denmark after a regulation win against Norway. Picking up any points against their Scandinavian rivals would be a boon to their medal round chances. The game will be shown on TSN 1/3 in Canada
Group B Preliminary Games
5:15 AM ET: Canada vs Hungary
Coming off of a 5-1 win against the Americans on Friday, the Canadians should have no trouble against Hungary, who struggled in a loss to Slovakia on Saturday. The early start might make this a tricky game for the Canadians, most of whom will be playing Hungary for the first time. You have to imagine that Hungary will be up for this game but they face a huge uphill battle. This may be the mismatch of the tournament. The game will be shown on TSN1/3/4/5 in Canada
9:15 AM ET: Finland vs Germany
The Patrik Laine show continues as Finland gets set to face the Germans. After being the youngest player in tournament history to have a three point game, expecations are high for the presumptive number two pick in the upcoming NHL Draft. Germany took France to a shootout yesterday, and will look for anything out of this game. The game will be shown on TSN1/3 in Canada
1:15 PM ET: France vs Slovakia
All eyes will be on Martin Reway vs Tim Bozon in this one. OK, maybe not but it is a chance for Canadiens fans to get a look at both prospects. Reway played more minutes than any Slovakian forward in yesterday’s win against Hungary and the Slovakian team includes NHLers Tomas Jurco and Marko Dano. France beat Germany in a shootout yesterday and this game will give one of the two teams the upper hand to sneak into the medal round. The game will be shown on TSN4 in Canada
All games will be streamed here (subject to geo-blocking). TSN Go will be streaming all of the games as well in Canada.
