Line-up
Simion was still injured and out. As such, Ambühl replaced him in this game on his line with Corvi and Hofmann. Herzog joined the Hischier line with Kurashev. The Meier - Vermin - Andrighetto line remained the same and Mottet joined the team as the 13th forward. On defence, Müller was in for Geisser and between the pipes and Berra got the start.
First period
The two first shifts saw some approximations on the Swiss side, with some turnovers in the defensive zone or turnovers near the offensive blueline. After that sloppy start and three minutes in the game, Andrighetto found Meier in the slot on a quick rush for the first real chance of the game. After four minutes, it was a bad read from Hofmann that enabled the Brits to go on a 2-on-1 and face Berra, who made a clean glove save.
After 5 minutes, on a shift from the Hofmann’s line, Switzerland was able to have a long period of possession of the puck in the offensive zone and multiple chances, thanks to Corvi’s passing and Hofmann as the shooter. It brought a first penalty against Great Britain and the first power-play for the Swiss team. Here, Fischer made no change, as the first line was the same as last game, with the 2 defencemen (Loeffel, Alatalo) + 3 forwards option (Corvi, Hischier, Kurashev), with Loeffel being deployed on the “Ovi” spot. And that line still delivered in terms of chances. First, with Kurashev shot from the slot on a pass from behind the net from Hischier.
After that power-play, the Swiss players were able to build on the momentum created and again had some great chances. The fourth line with Rod, Meier on a nice wrap-around. And they were finally rewarded by a goal from Hofmann on a Royal Road pass from … Corvi, helped by Moser to recover the puck along the board. Unfortunately for the Brits at that moment, they haven’t been able to block the Swiss from entering the offensive zone in control.
Less than one minute later, a little error from Corvi in the neutral zone enabled Kirk, probably the Britain’s best player, to enter the offensive zone with speed. Coming on his off-side, he was able to beat Berra on the far side on a shot from the faceoff dot.
In the remaining of the period, the Swiss had the most chances. On a 2-om-1 rush from Hofmann and Corvi, Hofmann’s backhand pass on the entry offered Corvi a breakaway, but Bowns made the save. Three minutes before the end of the period, Loeffel scored his third of the tournament, despite a missed shot but the screen by Rod definitely helped.
Overall, the Swiss dominated the period, was able to gain the offensive in control most of the time, create chances in various fashions, but also made some errors on a few occasions that lead to good chances for Great Britain and chances that we didn’t see much in their previous games against lower seeded teams.
After 20 minutes: 2 xG for Switzerland, 0.28 xG for Great Britain
Second period
The second period was better in the Swiss’ point of view. It all started with a 2-on-1 rush from Bertschy and Rod, but Bowns made the save again. In the minutes that followed, the Swiss forecheck and pressure on the opposite defence helped the team recover pucks in the offensive zone.
On an individual effort from Hischier, starting in the Swiss’ defensive zone, he was able to face Bowns but took a penalty on that sequence for interference on the goalie. It took the Brits 36 seconds on a play that started below the goal line. Hammond was able to find Richardson with a pass that went through the box to the high-slot and Kirk scored on the rebound. On the play, Scherwey went too low and too close to Diaz and didn’t close the passing lane from Hammond to Richardson.
The Swiss reacted well to that goal. They were able to have long shifts in the offensive zone, get some chances from high-danger passes and draw a penalty. On the power-play that followed, the second unit had issues getting into formation in the offensive zone and even offered a few chances to the Brits, but the first unit was able to score with Alatalo for the 3-2. On a shot that was tipped twice by Brits players, the Swiss got a bit lucky again, like on the 2-1 from Loeffel.
On the shift that followed, Fischer sent his fourth line for the faceoff draw. They won it, entered the zone in control with a pass from Bertschy to Scherwey. As Bertschy who drove to the net, Scherwey found him thanks to high-danger pass. The perfect tip from Bertschy makes it 4-2 for the Swiss.
The Brits tried to immediately react after these back-to-back goals. First with Kirk who couldn’t convert from the slot and on a chance that started with a pass from behind the net from Hammond, as Berra made the stop. The Swiss defenceman (Untersander) was a bit too passive on that sequence. Second, on the faceoff that followed, the Brits were able to execute a set play and nearly scored as Berra couldn’t catch the puck with his glove.
Yet, three minutes before the end of the period, Bertschy scored on again on a shot from Diaz he tipped in the slot. As we said in our different game recap, this fourth line has been key for Siwtzerland, scoring or drawing penalties in most games. With this goal, Scherwey and Berschy got their sixth point in this tournament. One minute later, the Swiss took a 4—goal lead. On a zone entry in control, Kurashev found Hischier in the slot with a high-danger pass.
The Swiss are again ahead after two periods. But their defensive play has been somewhat sloppy and passive on some sequences. Offensively, they had some big chances, on rushes or high-danger plays (Hischier ‘s line was able to connect on a few occasions, not only on the 5-2), but they seemed to rely much more on shots from the blue line than what we’ve been used to see since the beginning of the tournament. Even though it worked on some occasions in that game, this isn’t the best way to create offence.
After 40 minutes: 3.69 xG for Switzerland, 0.62 xG for Great Britain
Third period
With a 4-goal lead and probably with coming the quarter final in mind, it’s hard to infer something for such periods. On both sides of the ice, the coaches decided to change their goalies.
Fischer also decided to change his offensive lines during the third period. Ambühl played with Vermin and Andrighetto, Herzog was back on the fourth line with Berschy and Scherwey, Meier was back with Hischier on a line with Kurashev and Rod or Mottet joined the line with Corvi and Hofmann.
At the start of the period, on a chance on the rush, Duggan was able to shoot three times in a few seconds. Nyffeler made the first two saves and Moser was able to block the third.
Even though the Swiss could have managed that third period more easily, the Brits were able to score another goal with their first line. The Brits recovered the puck in the offensive zone and quickly connected to find Kirk in the slot and on the rebound, Connolly scored. A few seconds later, Corvi lost the puck in the slot and offered a 1-on-1 for Lake against Nyffeler, who made the save but couldn’t stop the puck. On the rebound, Lake connected with Dowd in the slot but Nyffeler stopped the puck this time.
Even though the Swiss got many chances, their defensive performance could have been better.
After 40 minutes: 4.55 xG for Switzerland, 2.23 xG for Great Britain
By the numbers
The offensive part of the game is not the issue here. With 4.55xG produced, the Swiss had their second best game of the tournament, just behind the 4.88xG created against Denmark. 87 shot attempts, 31 scoring chances, 11 high-danger chances… the job was done.
Regression toward the mean at 5v5 even continued with 5 goals scored from 3.97xG. And the team ends the round robin with 16 5v5 goals out of 19.36xG.
But defensively, allowing 2.23xG to the Brits is a bit much honestly. Yes, it was the last game, the top4 was secured and the heads were already thinking about Thursday, but still.
The Shot maps is pretty clear. GB got their chances from up close. Switzerland did a good job to get inside the slot and keep working to create scoring chances and not just bombard from the outside. 13 shots were created from high-danger passes, 5 from Royal road plays. The offensive process built by the staff is working and efficient.
Transition
Switzerland had another good game suffocating their opponent. With just 48% of controlled exits and 35% of controlled entries, the Britains turned a lot of pucks away under pressure. Also, dump-in recoveries was limited to 5%… The defensive issues were more in-zone for the Swiss tonight.
Offensively, another solid break out game with 82% of controlled exits and 62% of controlled entries. 42% of the 33 high-danger passes connected too, which is good.
Goaltenders
Some regression in a bad way for Reto Berra after his previous games. He allowed 1.38 goals above expectation tonight, with a under average 64% shot Control.
Nyffeler saved 0.60 goal in the last period despite facing more than twice danger as Berra in 40mn. He kept the puck out of the net the best he could by allowed uncontrolled rebounds most of the time.
With Genoni’s performance against Belarus, picking the starter for Thursday is a pending question again.
Offensive contribution
This was exactly the kind of game where depth players could secure a spot for the decisive game(s) to come. And they did. For the first time of the tournament, the best contributors were not the top guns, but complimentary players, showing one strength of Switzerland this year. Bertschy was everywhere, beyond his goals, leading the team in transition with a 5/5 on exits and a 5/7 on entries. His 4 shot attempts were all scoring chances, worth 0.54xG in total, to which he added 4 shot assists. Otherwise, Scherwey was impressive, again. Herzog confirmed his upward trend, leading the team with 0.62xG tonight. Rod, Müller and Mottet, on the other hand, probably missed their chance here.
Thursday morning we will publish a recap of the round robin and the preview of the upcoming game against Germany.
And we will be live for the game of course!
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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