The opening night of the Beijer Hockey Games – the third leg of the 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour – saw home fans go home disappointed in two different countries. Czechia downed host Sweden in Stockholm while Finland edged Switzerland in a shootout in Langnau. The rest of the games will be played Saturday and Sunday in Stockholm.

With each team having now played seven of 12 Euro Hockey Tour games, the standings are now: 1. Czechia 18 points, 2. Finland 13 points, 3. Switzerland 7 points, 4. Sweden 4 points.

Czechia 4 – Sweden 1 (1-1, 1-0, 2-0)

The Swedes entered their home tournament in last place in the standings but selected what on paper seemed to be the strongest of the four squads. However, their shooters were stymied in front of a crowd of 9,713 at Avicii Arena by a stingy Czech defense and a fine performance from goaltender Josef Kořenář, who stopped 19 of 20 shots. Kristián Reichel had two points for the Czechs.

An electric start to the game saw Filip Chlapík and Sebastian Hartmann trade goals in the first four minutes, but the pace settled down after that. Jakub Zbořil scored the eventual game-winning goal with 4:48 remaining in the second period, firing a wrister from the top of the slot that beat Linus Söderström over the blocker. Radan Lenc and a late empty-netter by Reichel rounded out the scoring.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utEvS0nH3L4[/embed]

Switzerland 0 – Finland 1 [SO] (0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-0, 0-1)

Goaltenders Lassi Lehtinen and Sandro Aeschlimann were each perfect through 65 minutes of hockey before the Finns won the shootout to bag the extra point. Switzerland’s Calvin Thürkauf was robbed by the left pad of Lehtinen in the game’s early going and then it appeared Thürkauf had finally scored in overtime. However, it was called back due to goaltender interference.

In the shootout, Saku Mäenalanen and Henrik Borgström scored on Finland’s first two attempts. Dario Rohrback got one for the Swiss but it wasn’t enough.

This was the only game that Antti Pennanen behind the Finnish bench this weekend. While the rest of the team moves on to Sweden, the Finnish coach and some of his staff will now head overseas to prepare for the 4 Nations Face-Off.