2025 IIHF World Championship: Kasper, Necas highlight top standouts from Day 4
The 2025 IIHF World Championship returned to a four-game schedule on Monday, with Austria, Switzerland, Czechia and Sweden skating out to victories.
We saw our first shootout – and major upset – of the tournament, with Austria squandering a 2-0 lead to Slovakia. Slovakia scored twice in regulation to force extra time, with both teams getting about one good opportunity each. In the shootout, Peter Schneider scored the winner, but it was what happened after that that caused chaos. Goaltender David Kickert tripped Slovakia’s Michal Kristof in his shootout attempt, which ended the scoring chance. Kristof immediately went to the officials, demanding an explanation. The officials chatted about it briefly, but with the play not being reviewable, the call stood and Austria was awarded the win.
The other afternoon game came and went without controversy. Switzerland briefly moved to the top spot in Group B after shutting out the United States 3-0, serving the Americans their first loss after two shutout victories of their own over the weekend.
Czechia would go on to take the top spot in Group B at the end of the day thanks to a 7-2 victory over Denmark. It started off slow with no goals in the first, but Martin Necas and David Pastrnak both played their best games of the tournament to blow the bout wide open.
The Swedes would move to 3-0 in the other evening game, beating Finland 2-1. While the score was close, the game truly wasn’t, with Sweden outshooting the Finns 41-19. A great goaltending effort by Juuse Saros kept it close, but it was easily one of the more entertaining third periods of the tournament as the Finns poured on the pressure.
Here’s a look at the top standouts from Monday’s four-game slate:
Austria 3, Slovakia 2 (OT)
Austria
#96 Marco Kasper, C (Detroit Red Wings): Kasper was everywhere early in this one, scoring a goal and an assist to make it 2-0. Kasper has not only been Austria’s best player, but one of the best players in this tournament, period. That’s because he does so much with so little, and his work ethic is second to none. Kasper
#30 David Kickert, G: Kickert wasn’t overly busy in the first half, but a couple of big stops helped give the Austrians the momentum they needed to push ahead. Kickert was good in his first start against Sweden, too – he has proven he’s more than capable of stealing games at this tournament. He does that thanks to good athleticism and play reads, while also
#3 Peter Schneider, RW: Schneider scored the 1-0 goal and then finished it off in the shootout. Anyone who has watched this Austrian team in recent years knows exactly what he’s capable of. He’s skilled, gets to the net, has a hard shot and keeps goaltenders busy. This was his best game of the three so far.
Slovakia
#42 Samuel Honzek, RW (Calgary Flames): Honzek was a man on a mission today. He scored the 2-1 goal to get Slovakia back in the game and then set up what was nearly the game-winner with about three minutes to go. The big Flames prospect had a bit of a difficult season but this was easily one of the best games I’ve seen from him since getting drafted. Honzek was involved everywhere, aggressive and skated well.
#31 Samuel Hlavaj, G (Minnesota Wild): Hlavaj was a bit surprised by the 2-0 goal, but then was perfect the rest of the way. Austria isn’t as dynamic of a team but he still had to make saves through traffic and his athleticism continued to be a major talking point. Hlavaj also just got a piece of a breakaway chance with three minutes to go into overtime to keep things tied – a game-saving stop. Hlavaj has been great early on and will be Slovakia’s starter the rest of the way.
Switzerland 3, USA 0
Switzerland
#63 Leonardo Genoni, G: With a 23-save shutout, Genoni was the difference-maker today. Even when USA crashed the net and took his sight away, Genoni did what Genoni does and stood tall in the crease. Year after year, he’s always so important for the Swiss – regardless of if he’s the starter or not. That’s because nothing seems to bother him and his positioning is well defined.
#21 Kevin Fiala, LW (Los Angeles Kings): Fiala made his 2025 tournament debut and immediately had an impact. He made a great pass to the point on the 2-0 goal, one that ultimately took the Americans’ steam away. Fiala was also one of the fastest players on the ice, and it seemed like he enjoyed being back on the larger surface again.
#71 Jonas Siegenthaler, D (New Jersey Devils): Siegenthaler doesn’t score much, but he made it 2-0 today. It was his only shot of the game, but I liked how he waited until Joey Daccord was covered in front of the net to let it go. Defensively, Siegenthaler was Switzerland’s top shutdown defender, giving USA nothing to work with in high-danger areas.
USA
#72 Tage Thompson, RW (Buffalo Sabres): Just like the rest of the team, Thompson struggled to generate much. But it felt like he was always trying to make something happen, at least, cheating in on plays and getting himself into scoring areas close to the net. Thompson was also defensively sound, although he had a couple of giveaways in transition. Still, Thompson felt like one of the
Czechia 5, Denmark 2
Czechia
#98 Martin Necas, RW (Colorado Avalanche): Necas had two goals in his best game of the tournament so far. He’s hard to contain when he’s in a shooting position and he helped get the Czech attack going in a big way. Necas has to do a bit more of the heavy lifting on the second line compared to Pastrnak, but he’s also a matchup nightmare at this tournament.
#88 David Pastrnak, RW (Boston Bruins): He’s ruthless. He hates goaltenders. And today, he scored a goal and added two assists in his best game yet. Pastrnak can be magical, but we missed that from him outside of the game-winning goal in the final a year ago. Today, it was like he was playing on easy mode. He was on another level to everyone else.
#23 Lukas Sedlak, C: It’s hard not to be productive when you have Pasta by your side. Sedlak had a goal and two assists today; it started when he set up Pastrnak’s goal, amd then he scored one of his own on the next shift. Add in the great play to create the seventh goal with a minute to go to wrap up Sedlak’s most dangerous effort so far.
#17 Filip Hronek, D (Vancouver Canucks): Hronek had a pair of assists in the first period, and while they were both secondary, he had to win battles to get the puck to help start the play in the first place. He was physical, made smart decisions with the puck under pressure and didn’t get beat often tonight. In all, a nice showing.
Denmark
#17 Nicklas Jensen, LW: Jensen assisted on both of Denmark’s goals today, with the top line being the only one that seemed to muster up anything. The former NHL is Denmark’s most skilled forward, and he’s a good skater for being 6-foot-4. He never seemed to figure it out in the NHL, but whenever Denmark is lacking NHL talent at the World’s, Jensen shows up and takes control.
Finland 1, Sweden 2
Finland
#74 Juuse Saros, G (Nashville Predators): The Finns needed a big game in net and Saros delivered. He made 39 stops in a game where his team had so little buzzing offensively. It was almost like the Finns just weren’t interested – the shots were 16-2 in the first period. Saros had a difficult year in Nashville and then struggled at the 4 Nations. But today, Saros was the reason the game didn’t get completely out of hand.
#4 Mikko Lehtonen, D: The Finnish attack didn’t generate much, but Lehtonen had an assist and nearly had another in the final minute of the game. I liked how he read plays, distributed the puck and took the middle of the ice away in the defensive zone. Lehtonen had a bit of a tough time against France but I thought he made up for it today with a much more refined effort.
Sweden
#23 Lucas Raymond, RW (Detroit Red Wings): Raymond has gotten better with every game, and today he had two assists and seven shots. He had hands of gold today – he saw the ice so well and kept exploiting Finland’s defense. He’s still seeking his first goal of the tournament, but it’ll come. For now, I love the playmaking he’s putting on display.
#8 Jonas Brodin, D (Minnesota Wild): When did Brodin become a sniper? He now has goals in three straight games, and he finished second with six shots today. With Sweden lacking high-end offensive D, Brodin – who had four goals in 50 NHL games this season – seems determined to get the puck on net every chance he gets. He’s playing with so much confidence, and he’s showing he’s more than just a physical, defensively minded blueliner.
#91 Leo Carlsson, C (Anaheim Ducks): Carlsson is having such a strong tournament. The young Swede took a team-leading seven shots, and he scored the opening goal of the game today, too. He’s up to two goals overall, but his impact as both a puck-retriever and a shot generator has been impressive. I was disappointed with his offensive play against Austria, but thought he looked good defensively. Today’s game was his best so far.
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