photo: © INTERNATIONAL ICE HOCKEY FEDERATION / MATT ZAMBONIN
Before today’s game, Denmark had scored only five goals in their four games in the tournament. Against Slovenia, they improved their average by scoring four times en route to a 4-0 win.
Denmark climbs to sixth place in Group B, ahead of Slovenia and Italy.
Patrick Russell scored twice, Mikkel Aagaard picked up four points, and Mads Sogaard recorded a 13-save shutout for Denmark. Lukas Horak made 26 stops in Slovenia’s goal.
"We weren’t happy with our game coming in, we had to get back to the fundamentals, and that’s what we did today,” Russell said.
“We just couldn’t find the net today. One goal today could’ve changed the game,” said Slovenia’s Filip Sitar.
It had been eleven years since the two teams had played each other in an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. In May 2015, Slovenia beat Denmark 1–0 in Ostrava, Czechia.
All in all, Slovenia had a winning 2-1-1 record against Denmark, and even a plus-1 goal difference in the four World Championship games the teams played between 2005 and 2015.
All four previous meetings were one-goal games — including one tie, in 2006 — and today’s game was also a battle from beginning to end.
Denmark carried the play early on but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. Slovenia, on the other hand, created their best scoring chances on the power play with five minutes remaining in the period.
First, Marcel Mahkovec — who scored Slovenia’s OT game-winner against Czechia — fired a wrist shot from the slot and even got the puck into the net off the rebound, but the goal was disallowed because Mahkovec was deemed to have kicked it in. On the following shift, Jan Drozg was wide open in front of the net, all by himself, but Sogaard managed to poke-check the puck away from him.
Denmark got their first power-play opportunity at 13:52 of the second period, and they didn’t waste it. Nick Olesen and Mikkel Aagaard set up Joachim Blichfeld, who fired a wrist shot from the left point and beat Horak top shelf short side just 19 seconds into the man advantage to give the red-and-whites a 1-0 lead.
“I don’t think we've played as well as we wanted to, especially against Slovakia, but we cleaned it up today. We’re a good hockey team, the first one took a while today, but we stayed patient and got one on the power play,” he added.
The goal gave Denmark momentum, and Slovenia barely even visited the Danish zone for the rest of the period.
The Danes were rewarded for their resilience with 1:17 remaining in the period when Patrick Russell redirected Bruggisser’s point shot through Horak’s five-hole to make it 2-0 for Denmark. Aagaard picked up his second point of the night.
Slovenia got their third power play early in the third period, but Denmark’s penalty killing was perfect today.
With 52 seconds remaining, Russell scored his second goal of the game when he lifted an Aagaard rebound top shelf from the doorstep, to make it 3-0.
Aagaard picked up his fourth point in the game when he sealed the final score, 4-0, into an empty Slovenian net with 15 seconds remaining. Olesen also collected his third point of the game.
Denmark will take on Italy tomorrow, while Slovenia will play their final game, also against Italy, on Monday.
Denmark climbs to sixth place in Group B, ahead of Slovenia and Italy.
Patrick Russell scored twice, Mikkel Aagaard picked up four points, and Mads Sogaard recorded a 13-save shutout for Denmark. Lukas Horak made 26 stops in Slovenia’s goal.
"We weren’t happy with our game coming in, we had to get back to the fundamentals, and that’s what we did today,” Russell said.
“We just couldn’t find the net today. One goal today could’ve changed the game,” said Slovenia’s Filip Sitar.
It had been eleven years since the two teams had played each other in an IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. In May 2015, Slovenia beat Denmark 1–0 in Ostrava, Czechia.
All in all, Slovenia had a winning 2-1-1 record against Denmark, and even a plus-1 goal difference in the four World Championship games the teams played between 2005 and 2015.
All four previous meetings were one-goal games — including one tie, in 2006 — and today’s game was also a battle from beginning to end.
Denmark carried the play early on but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. Slovenia, on the other hand, created their best scoring chances on the power play with five minutes remaining in the period.
First, Marcel Mahkovec — who scored Slovenia’s OT game-winner against Czechia — fired a wrist shot from the slot and even got the puck into the net off the rebound, but the goal was disallowed because Mahkovec was deemed to have kicked it in. On the following shift, Jan Drozg was wide open in front of the net, all by himself, but Sogaard managed to poke-check the puck away from him.
Denmark got their first power-play opportunity at 13:52 of the second period, and they didn’t waste it. Nick Olesen and Mikkel Aagaard set up Joachim Blichfeld, who fired a wrist shot from the left point and beat Horak top shelf short side just 19 seconds into the man advantage to give the red-and-whites a 1-0 lead.
“I don’t think we've played as well as we wanted to, especially against Slovakia, but we cleaned it up today. We’re a good hockey team, the first one took a while today, but we stayed patient and got one on the power play,” he added.
The goal gave Denmark momentum, and Slovenia barely even visited the Danish zone for the rest of the period.
The Danes were rewarded for their resilience with 1:17 remaining in the period when Patrick Russell redirected Bruggisser’s point shot through Horak’s five-hole to make it 2-0 for Denmark. Aagaard picked up his second point of the night.
Slovenia got their third power play early in the third period, but Denmark’s penalty killing was perfect today.
With 52 seconds remaining, Russell scored his second goal of the game when he lifted an Aagaard rebound top shelf from the doorstep, to make it 3-0.
Aagaard picked up his fourth point in the game when he sealed the final score, 4-0, into an empty Slovenian net with 15 seconds remaining. Olesen also collected his third point of the game.
Denmark will take on Italy tomorrow, while Slovenia will play their final game, also against Italy, on Monday.
Denmark vs Slovenia - 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship
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