The opening day of the Beijer Hockey Games – the third leg of the 2024-25 Euro Hockey Tour – on Thursday saw the Czechs and Swiss both win. On Saturday at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, Finland won for the second straight game and Switzerland was involved in another low-scoring affair, going to overtime again.
With each team having now played eight of 12 Euro Hockey Tour games, Czechia remains first with 18 points and Finland is still second, having closed the gap to 16 points. With their win, the Swiss have widened their lead over Sweden, 10 to four in points.
Read Switzerland's roster here.
Finland 3 – Czechia 0 (0-0, 3-0, 0-0)
In a meeting between the top two teams in the Euro Hockey Tour standings, former Winnipeg Jets goaltending prospect Oskari Salminen stopped all 20 shots he faced as Finland shut out Czechia 3-0. All three goals came in the second period, all assisted by former Anaheim Ducks prospect Julius Nättinen.
Oiva Keskinen opened the scoring in the second minute of the middle frame, taking a long pass from Nättinen in the neutral zone, then made a nifty move just inside the blueline to elude a couple of Czech back-checkers and beat Dominik Pavlát with a low shot to the far side. Sebastian Repo made it 2-0 on a 2-on-1 just shy of the game’s midpoint, and Montreal Canadiens prospect Oliver Kapanen scored the third goal late in the period, taking a cross-ice feed from Nättinen and beating Pavlát high to the glove side.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxPh83kgq3E[/embed]
Sweden 1 – Switzerland 2 [OT] (1-0, 0-0, 0-1, 0-1)
The frustrating Euro Hockey Tour season for Sweden continues. Before a home crowd of 10,631 in Stockholm, the Swedes led 1-0 but saw the Swiss tie it late in the third period and then win it in overtime.
The Swedes opened the scoring at 6:28 when a high shot point shot from former Edmonton Oilers prospect Filip Berglund snuck in behind Swiss goaltender Kevin Pasche and slid into the net. However, they were unable to add to it despite numerous chances – the best coming with 4:10 to play in the third period when Switzerland’s Jonas Taibel was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking and a later penalty to Calvin Thürkauf gave the Swedes a 5-on-3 for 49 seconds.
However, the Swiss killed off the penalties and tied it off the rush with 6:14 to go – Nicolas Baechler and former Minnesota Wild Christoph Bertschy executing the give-and-go. In overtime, Bertschy picked up his second assist when he forced a turnover right in front of the Swedish net and fed a streaking Thürkauf, formerly of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who buried it.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iQA_rkx6iI[/embed]