IIHF Worlds Preview: Canada vs. Germany

GAME NOTES: Canada vs. Germany (May 24)

TV: TSN | Stream: TSN Direct

Canada’s National Men’s Team gets right back to action with a holiday Monday matinee against Germany,
taking to the ice once again in search of its first win at the 2021 IIHF
World Championship.

LAST GAME

The frustrating start for the Canadians continued with a

5-1 loss to the United States. Maxime Comtois scored in the third period to end the tournament-opening
scoring drought for Canada, but it fell to 0-2 for the first time ever at
the worlds.

The Germans’ tournament debut was a successful one, scoring the game’s
first four goals in a 5-1 victory over Norway on Saturday. Lukas Reichel
led the way with a goal and an assist, Marcel Noebels added two helpers and
Mathias Niederberger made 24 saves.

LAST MEETING

The Germans entered the game with four wins in as many games, but it was
Canada who dominated in an

8-1 win in preliminary-round action at the 2019 worlds.

Mark Stone was the offensive star with a hat trick, Anthony Mantha scored
twice and the Canadians got points from 12 different players. Dylan Strome
added three assists and Jonathan Marchessault had two as Canada pulled away
with four goals in a 10-minute stretch in the third period and outshot
Germany 49-16 overall.

WHAT TO WATCH

Will the Comtois goal help the Canadians turn the corner offensively? They
were admittedly getting frustrated as their scoring drought stretched into
a sixth period, but now that they’re on the board, will the goals start to
come?

Will the kids continue to be alright? Head coach Gerard Gallant did not
hesitate to give his youngest charges an opportunity on Sunday; 19 of the
20 skaters saw at least 10 minutes of action, and Nicolas Beaudin (21 years old),
Jacob Bernard-Docker (20), Owen Power (18) Cole Perfetti (19) all saw their
ice time increase from the tournament opener.

In a tournament of surprises (through three days of games, four teams have
already beaten teams they had never beaten before at worlds), will the
natural order of the hockey world eventually take over, or will this be the
year of the upset all the way through to the gold medal game?

A LOOK BACK

Canada has owned the head-to-head history, winning 21 of 23 meetings. When
you factor in games against East and West Germany from 1954 to 1990, that
dominance extends to 43 wins in 46 games.

The Canadians have won the last 10 meetings, including 10-goal outings in

2008 (when Eric Staal scored four goals) and

2015 (when Taylor Hall had a hat trick), and quarterfinal victories in 2003 (when Eric Brewer was the overtime hero)
and

2017 (when Mark Scheifele had a goal and an assist).

All-time record: Canada leads 21-1-1 (2-0 in OT)
Canada goals: 109
Germany goals: 29