Well, that’s a tough one. Like in 2019 against Canada, the opponent was able to equalize in the last minute. Like in 2019, they also lost in OT, but in the shootouts this time. It’s a frustrating one because the Swiss had some pretty good chances to get a medal in this 2021 edition but also because it came with a good mindset in this tournament and was able to play, at the very least, on par with all its opponents.
In this game against Germany, they were disciplined as they took no penalty and didn’t give much to their opponent (the contrary was also true). This kind of low event game leads to more variance in the results and that’s probably what Germany wanted.
Line-up
Fischer decided to go with the line-up we expected to see in our preview. First, with Genoni between the pipes. On defence, we were hesitating between Müller and Geisser on the top pairing. Fischer finally chose Müller. He went with his usual pairings (Moser - Untersander, Siegenthaler - Loeffel) and Alatalo as the 7th defenceman.
With Simion’s return, Fischer went back to his Hofmann - Corvi - Simion line. The other lines were as expected Herzog - Bertschy - Scherwey, Kurashev - Hischier - Ambühl and Meier - Vermin - Andrighetto.
First period
Fischer sent his fourth line to start the game, as they faced the German’s top and best line (Reichel - Pföderl - Noebels) as presented in our preview.
In the first seconds of the game, we saw a German team willing to put pressure on the Swiss’ defence and sucessfully, as they were already able to successfully recover the pucks several times. They forced 10 turnovers in the Swiss defensive zone in the first 5 minutes of the game. As we’ll see later, this was one of the keys of this game. The other key of the game was the neutral zone play by either team. Both teams had issues gaining the offensive zone in control.
Even though the Swiss team had issues all game long to enter the offensive zone in control, their best chances came on the rush in this period. First, on a Royal Road pass from Hischier to Ambühl. Second, the Swiss team needed another great rush from Hofmann to enter the offensive zone with speed and control. He was able to elimintate four opponents before taking his shot. Niederberger made the save. This was the Swiss’ best chance so far.
The third one came on a 4-on-2. Hofmann connected with Corvi, who missed his shot.
On the 1-0, Genoni first recovered a German’s dump at with 5:20 left in the period. The Swiss were able to quickly exit their zone in control, beating three German forecheckers, and enter in control thanks to a pass from Untersander to Kurashev. Then, for the first time of the period, the Swiss were able to set up in the offensive zone. They used passing plays to establish possession and get behind their opponent’s block. After a dozen of passes in the offensive zone and approximately 35 seconds of puck possession, Alatalo finally found Untersander on a beautiful Royal Road pass. With two German players coming from low to high in the zone, following Kurashev, Untersander identifies an opportunity to support the attack and create some confusion and is rewarded for it.
A great shift, sequence and goal, which exemplifies how the Swiss wanted to play in general in this tournament.
In this period, despite the Germans’ pressure on the Swiss’ defence, forcing many errors and turnovers, they couldn’t generate much out of them, as the Swiss defended well in their zone, once the Germans had the puck.
After 20 minutes: 0.49xG for Switzerland, 0.18xG for Germany
Second period
Some small adjustments at the beginning of the second period, as Fischer decided to send the Hischier’s line against Reichel’s one.
In the first 7 minutes of the period, both teams neutralized each other pretty well. Then, the Germans got two penalties in a few seconds. Unfortunately for the Swiss, they weren’t able to create much on the 5v3 that followed, except for one cross-ice pass from Hischier to Diaz in the last second of the power-play. The unit with Diaz, Hofmann, Meier, Hischier and Corvi first lost 30 seconds on a puck recovered by the Germans. The execution on some plays was either too slow or not precise enough to find interesting passing lanes.
Until the 2-0 at 33:26, both teams still neutralized each other pretty well. Then came the fourth line again (yes, the one we talked about in all our recaps). It all started by a great defensive read and anticipation from Scherwey, who cut a pass to the high slot and passes the puck to Bertschy for a clean zone exit in control. After a one-minute shift on the ice, most players would have simply dumped the puck in the offensive zone and gone to the bench, especially in the second period. But Bertschy decided to be patient, waited for Scherwey to gain speed in the neutral zone and passed the puck for a clean zone entry. On the sequence, Scherwey drew two players towards him and found Herzog on a beautiful flipped backhand pass across the Royal Road and alone in the slot.
Until the 2-1 from the Germans, Switzerland had played a strong defensive game, allowing no chances from the slot and no chances following turnovers. On that reverse play from Siegenthaler behind the goal line, Kühnhackl anticipated it and in four seconds, the Germans took four dangerous chances (worth 1.02 xG) and scored. The Germans were rewarded for their forechecking efforts.
A few seconds before the end of the period, Andrighetto entered the OZ with speed and was able to do a wrap-around on which Meier got the rebound but couldn’t score.
After 40 minutes: 1.45xG for Switzerland, 1.46xG for Germany
Third period
Fischer kept the Hischier’s line against Reichel’s one on the starting faceoff.
In this period, as illustrated by the shots map below, no team were able to generate much, as they were both very strong defensively. And if you have a look at the game flow plot below (in the By the numbers section), you’ll see how most chances were generated at the end of the period, especially for Germany.
It began with Eisenschmid who easily beat Untersander on a zone entry and got a good shot, but Genoni made the save. Then, Vermin found Simion on a 2-on-1, but Niederberger made the save.
With 85 seconds left, the Germans pulled their goalie and were able to set up in the offensive zone and keep the play alive despite two missed attempts from the Swiss to get the puck out of the zone. Kahun’s play found Gawanke whose shot went through the players.
In this 3rd period, Hofmann and Andrighetto had the lowest time on ice among forwards with 3:25, Alatalo did not play. Meier, Corvi and Simion come next. Did Fischer try to protect the lead too much by not using some of his best offensive players as much as he could (or should) have?
After 60 minutes: 1.76xG for Switzerland, 1.89xG for Germany
Overtime
Both teams had chances in OT. But the Swiss probably had the best with Corvi who found Hofmann on a rush and Royal Road pass. Niederberger made the save. Less than two minutes before the end, Moser found himself alone in the slot on a pass from Hischier but Niederberger made the save again.
After 60 minutes: 2.07xG for Switzerland, 2.05xG for Germany
By the numbers
The Swiss came in with the status of favorites and played as such for about 38 minutes, before the Germans took over the game.
The game ended at 2.07xG for Switzerland, and 2.05xG for the Germans. At 5v5, the German were ahead with 52 attempts to 33 and 1.64xG to 1.46. The Swiss will regret their 2 minutes of 5v3 for sure, where they only generated 0.30xG, maybe wanting to find a perfect shot too much.
The Swiss were letting the Germans shoot from outside while preventing scoring chances so well till that 38th minute. Could the Swiss have pushed more or they simply were overwhelmed? Hard to say. Defending too much is not always the best solution, especially with just a one goal lead. The other team just needs one tiny opportunity.
One segment that illustrates the game well is that the Swiss had a more organized offense, with more shots and expected goals from: Walk-ins (0.30xG to 0.08) High-danger passes (0.54xG to 0.17) Rushes (0.87xG to 0.43) but the Germans, tried enough times to get 3 rebounds and their 2 goals…
Transition
Compared to the round robin, Swizterland exits were a lot more difficult with only 49% of controlled breakouts. Only 64% of pass exits were completed by the Swiss. Swiss let Germans exits as usual to cluster the neutral zone. Entries were very difficult to get on both sides. The two teams tried 12 and 13 high-danger passes, with more success for the Swiss (42%), both goals coming from those plays.
Goalies
Both goalies saved goal today (a bit). Genoni only control 57% of his saves and Niederberger was very solid as expected with a 83% shot control.
As we said in our preview, Niederberger is very mobile on the ice, sadly only 2 Swiss shooters tried to go top shelf on him. Meier scored and Hofmann hit the upper stick.
The three other shooters hit a wall trying to dangle the German goalie.
Players
Meier and Hofmann led for shots, as they should. Hischier was very active on transition and in the OZ, he leads with 6 shot assists. Bertschy very active in transition, Corvi too. Müller had a good game as he stepped up in the top-4.
Now it’s time for regret and lessons learned. Switzerland did not/could not play his style of hockey for 60 minutes. For the first time in this tournament they were on their heels for over a period, just pushing back the inevitable. It should not have been a 50/50 game but It became one.
How ? That’s the pending question for Patrick Fischer and his staff.
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Find more statistics tracked by Thibaud on his Tableau’s page here: https://public.tableau.com/profile/thibaud.chatel#!/vizhome/WorldChampionship2021/GameReport