Malgin’s overtime goal sends Latvia to relegation

It came down to this one game for both teams. Switzerland and Latvia had both lost their previous games and most likely, only the winner of this game would proceed to the quarterfinals.

The Swiss seemed more determined in the starting minutes creating chances and shots but the problem that haunted them throughout the tournament kept on. 12 shots on goalie Ponomarenko and 2 powerplays weren't enough during the first 15 minutes to get the Swiss on the board while Latvia created 3 chances in the same period. Just as the penalty on Latvia's Eduard Jansons was about to expire, Livio Stadler scored the supposed 1-0 but after the goal was given, the referees revoked the call what might have been an obstruction of the Latvian goalie.

At the beginning of the second period, Swiss forward Calvin Thurkauf finally capitalized on a chance to give the Swiss the first lead of the game with 3 minutes played. But a hooking penalty by Jonas Siegenthaler gave the Latvian's a chance for a powerplay and with only 3 seconds left Rudolfs Balcers scored the equalizer less than two minutes later. What followed for the rest of the period wasn't something for the hockey lovers eyes. One minor penalty after the other on both sides took out the flow of the game completely. The Swiss continued to dominate shot-wise but all those chances are worth nothing if you don't score, it's as easy as that.

The first minutes of the final period started just like in the others, Switzerland was creating chances and just over a minute was played when Robin Fuchs scored with a wrap-around to beat Ponomarenko in the close upper corner. Again the lead didn't endure too long as Rudolfs Balcers assisted by Martins Dzierkals scored a nice goal on van Pottelberghe and equalized for a second time in this game. The story of the remaining minutes are quickly told. No further goals, more chances by the Swiss and a 5 minute overtime.

In the 4 on 4 overtime the Swiss had the chance to play with with the one-man advantage but for the longest time the Swiss attackers struggled to pass the puck around quick and precise enough. But with a bit more than a minute left on the powerplay, Denis Malgin scored with a nice slapshot from the blue-line and gave the Swiss 2 important points which gives them a chance to play the quarterfinals which are played on Thursday. As for the Latvians, the relegation round awaits in a best-of-three series.

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