photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / ANDRE RINGUETTE
Germany, who had never lost to Hungary in the history of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, delivered a solid 60 minutes of hockey in their 6-2 win over Hungary and leaped over the Hungarians in the standings.
German defenseman Leon Gawanke scored a hat trick, and Marc Michaelis picked up three assists. Tamas Sarpatki and Janos Hari scored for Hungary.
"We kept building on what we did two days ago with our decision-making. Obviously, we had a lot of time in the offensive zone. Sometimes we played too much on the perimeter, but I think we were most of the time really direct toward their net, and we got the results by scoring six goals," said Michaelis.
"We knew they needed some points. They are a good team. The points didn't show that, but they have a lot of top DEL players, plus NHL players. We knew it was not going to be an easy game. We would have to do extra to be in the game, and they didn't give us too much offence. That showed in the shots on goal. It was a hard game," Sarpatki said.
Germany got their first power-play opportunity at 6:25 but didn’t create any dangerous chances until Bence Horvath was already out of the penalty box. Erik Mik’s wrist shot from the point found its way to the back of the net thanks to Nicolas Krammer, who did a great job making sure that Balizs didn’t see the puck, and Germany took the lead at 8:43.
"To be honest, I just wanted to put it on net. We had a good screen going on, and if you have traffic in front of the net, shots like that go in," Mik said.
"We put them under pressure with the forecheck, so they didn't even have a chance to make a clean breakout. I think that's what I liked the most about the whole game today," he added.
Germany’s second goal, on the other hand, was a pure power-play goal, and it was the second unit that scored it. Leon Huttl and Marc Michaelis moved the puck to Stefan Loibl in the slot, but the puck slipped from under his blade to Leon Gawanke, who fired a one-timer that beat Ballizs on the glove side and doubled Germany’s lead with only 25 seconds remaining in the period.
In the first half of the game, Germany outshot Hungary 17–4.
Despite dominating play on the ice, the Germans were kept off the scoresheet until the last minute of the period.
Lukas Reichel flipped a crafty pass to Frederik Tiffels in front of the Hungarian net, but Hungarian defensemen tied up his stick when he tried to shoot, and instead, Tiffels shoveled the puck across the crease to Reichel, who made it 3–0 with 50 seconds remaining.
Just 39 seconds later, it was 4–0.
Samuel Dove-McFalls followed up a Michaelis redirect and whacked the puck in, deflecting it off Balizs’s pad with eleven seconds on the clock.
In the third period, Germany started scoring early. At 1:36, Maximilian Kastner sent a hard pass to Gawanke in the slot, and he redirected it in for his second goal and Germany’s fifth of the game.
Grubauer’s shutout attempt came to an abrupt end three minutes later when Sarpatki stopped a puck by the boards at the hash marks and fired a slap shot toward the German net. Grubauer got a piece of it, but the puck flew into the net to make it 5–1 at 4:35.
Gawanke completed his hat trick with 10:20 remaining with a superb one-timer from a tight angle after an equally impressive give-and-go with Kai Wissmann in the high slot to make it 6–1.
"Probably they stepped back a little bit because they had the big lead. But we eventually created a bit of offence, so that's a big positive. We're just going to keep on going tomorrow," Sarpatki said.
Janor Hari sealed the final score, 6-2, off a rebound with 2:38 remaining.
German defenseman Leon Gawanke scored a hat trick, and Marc Michaelis picked up three assists. Tamas Sarpatki and Janos Hari scored for Hungary.
"We kept building on what we did two days ago with our decision-making. Obviously, we had a lot of time in the offensive zone. Sometimes we played too much on the perimeter, but I think we were most of the time really direct toward their net, and we got the results by scoring six goals," said Michaelis.
"We knew they needed some points. They are a good team. The points didn't show that, but they have a lot of top DEL players, plus NHL players. We knew it was not going to be an easy game. We would have to do extra to be in the game, and they didn't give us too much offence. That showed in the shots on goal. It was a hard game," Sarpatki said.
Germany got their first power-play opportunity at 6:25 but didn’t create any dangerous chances until Bence Horvath was already out of the penalty box. Erik Mik’s wrist shot from the point found its way to the back of the net thanks to Nicolas Krammer, who did a great job making sure that Balizs didn’t see the puck, and Germany took the lead at 8:43.
"To be honest, I just wanted to put it on net. We had a good screen going on, and if you have traffic in front of the net, shots like that go in," Mik said.
"We put them under pressure with the forecheck, so they didn't even have a chance to make a clean breakout. I think that's what I liked the most about the whole game today," he added.
Germany’s second goal, on the other hand, was a pure power-play goal, and it was the second unit that scored it. Leon Huttl and Marc Michaelis moved the puck to Stefan Loibl in the slot, but the puck slipped from under his blade to Leon Gawanke, who fired a one-timer that beat Ballizs on the glove side and doubled Germany’s lead with only 25 seconds remaining in the period.
In the first half of the game, Germany outshot Hungary 17–4.
Despite dominating play on the ice, the Germans were kept off the scoresheet until the last minute of the period.
Lukas Reichel flipped a crafty pass to Frederik Tiffels in front of the Hungarian net, but Hungarian defensemen tied up his stick when he tried to shoot, and instead, Tiffels shoveled the puck across the crease to Reichel, who made it 3–0 with 50 seconds remaining.
Just 39 seconds later, it was 4–0.
Samuel Dove-McFalls followed up a Michaelis redirect and whacked the puck in, deflecting it off Balizs’s pad with eleven seconds on the clock.
In the third period, Germany started scoring early. At 1:36, Maximilian Kastner sent a hard pass to Gawanke in the slot, and he redirected it in for his second goal and Germany’s fifth of the game.
Grubauer’s shutout attempt came to an abrupt end three minutes later when Sarpatki stopped a puck by the boards at the hash marks and fired a slap shot toward the German net. Grubauer got a piece of it, but the puck flew into the net to make it 5–1 at 4:35.
Gawanke completed his hat trick with 10:20 remaining with a superb one-timer from a tight angle after an equally impressive give-and-go with Kai Wissmann in the high slot to make it 6–1.
"Probably they stepped back a little bit because they had the big lead. But we eventually created a bit of offence, so that's a big positive. We're just going to keep on going tomorrow," Sarpatki said.
Janor Hari sealed the final score, 6-2, off a rebound with 2:38 remaining.
Germany vs Hungary - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
OF