Blues goalie makes 19 saves in helping defending champs claim top spot in Pool A with 4-3 overtime win; USA win gives Americans second place in Pool B
It got tense and scary there for St. Louis Blues and Canada goalie Jordan Binnington.
The Canadians thought they were in a good spot with a two-goal lead late in the third period on Tuesday against host Czechia at the 2024 IIHF World Championship's final pool play game, with first place on the line. But the hosts stormed back with two goals with their goalie pulled.
However, a Dylan Cozens (Buffalo Sabres) goal in overtime helped Canada take down Czechia, 4-3, at Prague Arena in Prague, Czechia.
The game was tied 0-0 through two periods before the goal-scoring opened up, each side scoring three times in the third period, including Czechia (4-1-2-0, 16 points) Ondrej Palat (New Jersey Devils) scoring with 3:04 remaining and Roman Cervenka tying the game with 1:49 remaining.
But Cozens scored his second goal of the game at 3:13 to give Canada (5-2-0-0, 19 points) the top spot heading into quarterfinal play.
Binnington, who was backed up by Blues teammate Joel Hofer, made 19 saves for the win, and Blues defenseman Colton Parayko had two shots on goal in 20:27 ice time.
In USA's 6-3 win against Latvia, St. Louisan Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Blues center Kevin Hayes had two shots on goal in 11:41.
USA (5-0-1-1, 16 points) finished in second place behind Sweden in group play.
Quarterfinal action gets underway Thursday , with Canada taking on Slovakia at 9:20a.m. (CT) at Prague Arena, while USA will have a stiff test against host Czechia at 1:20 p.m. at Prague Arena.
The other quarterfinal matchups pit Switzerland against Germany at 9:20 a.m. in Ostrava at Ostrava Arena, followed by rivals Sweden and Finland at 1:20 p.m.
Semifinal matchups pitting the quarterfinal winners will be Saturday, and the bronze and gold medal games will commence on Sunday, all in Prague.
