Canada looks to punch its ticket to the gold-medal game at the men’s world hockey championship for the fifth straight year but will have to get through Switzerland first in the semifinals on Saturday.
Watch Canada vs. Switzerland in the semis at the men’s worlds on Saturday LIVE at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT on TSN1/4 and streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
The Canadians got a collective effort in Thursday’s 6-3 quarter-final victory over Slovakia, getting goals from five different players. Nick Paul had two goals and an assist while Dylan Guenther, Jared McCann, Brandon Tanev and Pierre-Luc Dubois also found the back of the net.
Buffalo Sabres forward Dylan Cozens leads Canada in scoring with eight goals and 10 points, followed by captain John Tavares with nine points.
Jordan Binnington has been the No. 1 option for Canada in net, starting six games with an .869 save percentage and 2.97 goals-against average.
Canada and Switzerland faced off in the preliminary round, with the Canadians skating away with a 3-2 victory. Cozens had two goals while Paul’s power-play marker in the second period held up as the game winner.
Canada is so far undefeated in the tournament as they aim to repeat as world champions for the first time since 2015 and 2016.
Switzerland has three players among the top scorers in the tournament, led by Kevin Fiala in third with six goals and 11 points in six games, followed by Nico Hischier with 11 points in eight games and Roman Josi in a three-way tie for fifth with three goals and eight assists in eight games.
Christoph Bertschy led the Swiss in their 3-1 quarter-final win over Germany with two goals. It was Switzerland’s first win in the quarters since 2018.
Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni has been one of the best goaltenders in the tournament with a .925 save percentage and 1.39 GAA while allowing only seven goals in five appearances.
On special teams, Switzerland has the third-best power play at 29.4 per cent, scoring a tournament-high 10 goals on the man advantage. Canada is just eighth in that category at 22.2 per cent.
Neither team has been strong on the penalty kill, with Canada sitting 11th at 77.7 per cent on the kill while the Swiss are second-last at 67.8 per cent.