Switzerland vs. Slovakia - Game 4
Hello, regression! An 8-1 win, after a 7-0 loss.
We heard and read that players wanted to show a reaction after the 7-0 loss against Sweden. This is now done, probably way better than expected, with an 8-1 win against an opponent that was … first and undefeated after three games.
In our recap of the game against Sweden, we said that the score was misleading and wasn’t a good reflection of the game. The same can be said after this large win. It was a very close game in the first period and as the game progressed and the score widened, the Slovaks seemed to slowly release their effort.
We were waiting for some adjustments from Fischer and his staff. He decided to dress 7 defencemen and 13 forwards. Berra, Vermin, Herzog, Mottet (who played his first game) and Siegenthaler came in to replace Genoni, Rod, Praplan, Heldner and Müller. As for the lines, Fischer placed Hischier with Ambühl and Kurashev, Meier and Andrighetto with Vermin, and Herzog took Praplan’s place with Bertschy and Scherwey. The Hofmann - Corvi - Simion line is the only one that has remained the same throughout the four first games, and probably rightfully so.
First period
As in the past games, the Swiss team tried to be aggressive from the start of the game and be physical in all zones.
After three minutes, Slovakia had the first grade-A scoring chance. On a sequence that started on its own goal line, Slovakia calmly moved the puck out of the defensive zone on an outlet pass from Gernat that beat SUI’s two forecheckers and gained the offensive to start the cycle. A little confusion between Corvi and Hofmann freed some space down low and enabled Hrivik to find Gernat in the slot. Fortunately, Moser was able to block the shot. This was the best chance of the period in terms of xG value for both teams, with 0.14. For the remaining of the period, Switzerland didn’t give much space to Slovakia and forced shots from the outside.
A few seconds later, on a faceoff lost in the offensive zone, Meier had SUI’s best chance of the period (worth 0.12xG) thanks to a coordinated effort on the forecheck and a good pinch by Diaz. Andrighetto found Meier in the slot, but his shot was blocked.
At 6:53, Ambühl was hit to the head and Pospisil got a deserved major penalty against Slovakia. On the 5 minutes that followed, Diaz was able to score on a (tipped) shot from the point. On a rare zone entry in control during this power-play, thanks to Andrighetto and Hofmann, Diaz quickly took a shot that went off Studenic’s stick and beat Hudacek.
But this power-play started with a few chances from Slovakia on the penalty-kill, thanks to their aggressivness in this situation and in all three zones. First, with a play that started with a puck recovery on a Swiss zone entry and a quick pass to exit the defensive zone and find Liska, Slovakia found itself on a 3-on-2, with Gernat supporting the offence again, but his shot missed the net. A few seconds later, the Slovaks recovered the puck once again when defending their blueline and got a 2-on-2. Cehlarik wasn’t able to take a shot thanks to Alatalo’s work. Third, an aggressive forecheck by Liska enabled him to recover a pass from Berra. Fortunately for Berra, Sukel missed the puck.
If Switzerland had issues gaining the offensive in control on the power-play, this was also one of the feature of this first period and in all situations. They only had 29% of controlled entries at 5v5 because of Slovakia’s aggressive defence.
Right after the penalty, and at 5v5, Slovakia’s first line was still their most dangerous. On a Herzog’s failed zone exit, Gernat was able to get a puck on net from the blueline and serve Lantosi with a Royal Road pass. But Berra perfectly read the play and stopped the shot.
Despite the 1-0 lead, one could argue that Slovakia was the best team during this period. Their aggressivness and play in neutral zone was key to their performance and their first line had the best chances at 5v5.
After 20 minutes: 0.45 xG for Switzerland, 0.54 xG for Slovakia
Second period
At the end of the first period, the fourth line drew another penalty in this tournament, as Scherwey was slashed on an offensive zone entry. As such, Switzerland started the period at 5v4, was able to enter the offensive zone quickly and immediately install the power-play. On a perfect screen from Ambühl, Andrighetto was able to score.
Two minutes later, Slovakia found Berra’s post with its best players on the ice at 4v4. After a puck recovery in the offensive zone and another good puck movement, Gernat found Hrivik on a cross-ice pass but his shot only hit the iron.
At the beginning of the second period, we saw the Swiss players gaining the offensive zone in control more frequently. On the 3-0, that’s what Bertschy did. He then found Scherwey below the goal line who passed the puck to Loeffel on the faceoff dot. Helped by a screen from Herzog, his one-timer beat Hudacek.
At this moment, Switzerland was only slightly ahead in terms of xG and it already felt like the total opposite of their last game against Sweden. After that goal, the Swiss players had a few chances on the rush with Ambühl and Untersander. On another controlled zone entry, the 4th drew another penalty with Bertschy. The power-play was cancelled after 7 seconds due to a penalty against Meier, followed by another for Untersander.
On their power-play, Slovakia had some good chances, but when Untersander got out of the penalty-box, he found himself alone on a breakaway and found Hudacek’s post. From that moment, as you can see in our Game Flow below, Switzerland never looked back.
On a chance on the rush, both Vermin, who faced Hudacek, and Andrighetto with the rebound weren’t able to score. A few seconds later, Hofmann scored (again) at 5v5 on a nice feed from behind the net from Corvi.
Switzerland had some small chances until the end of the period and was able to draw another penalty on a controlled zone entry by its 4th line (again). On the following faceoff, Fischer even pulled Berra for the offensive zone faceoff. A great mindset we’d like to see more often.
After 40 minutes: 2.17 xG for Switzerland, 1.13 xG for Slovakia
Third period
As we said against the Swedes, it’s always hard to draw anything from such periods, especially with one team up with a 4-goal lead. But it was interesting to see the Swiss players that kept pushing, again and again until the end.
As in the second period, the first goal of the period came quickly after 38 seconds. Meier was able to tip Alatalo’s shot. If Slovakia still had hopes, that goal killed them for good.
Four minutes later, Kurashev’s shot was probably aiming at a tip from Hischier, but his shot found the back of the net. On a rare error from the Swiss defence during this game, Cehlarik found Kristof alone in the high-slot and was able to score.
In the last few minutes, Hofmann was able to score on a one-timer thanks to a Royal Road pass from Ambühl and Loeffel scored another for the 8-1.
After 60 minutes: In all situations 3.75 xG for Switzerland, 1.47 xG for Slovakia and 2.68xG to 0.86 at 5v5.
By the numbers
Offensive regression at full speed but the Swiss were the better team on the ice. 3.75xG to 1.47 overall for the Swiss. Creating over 3xG offensively and allowing less than 2 being a Gold standard as I call them.
Furthermore, the 5v5 was vastly dominated by the Swiss with 2.78xG to 0.86. Beyond the score, it is very good to see that the Swiss kept pushing all game long like they did against the Czech Repunlic and Denmark (but Sweden by the way).
Switzerland created more danger at 5v5 in all possible aspects. 0.75xG to 0.16 on Walk-ins, 1.13xG to 0.59 on high-danger passes, 2 rebounds to none and finally 0.79xG to 0.28 on rushes.
Transition
After a slow first period where an aggressive Slovakian team was holding them off, the Swiss managed to get better zone entries and ALSO completely block the Slovaks from getting some. Slovakia ends with a low 39% controlled entries. Also a nice 69% controlled exits for the Swiss.
Goaltenders
Very solid game from Berra who was clearly sparked by our comments in the team preview... 0.47 goal saved but a 88% shot control. It took 34 minutes to the Slovaks to force him to allow an uncontrolled rebound. And he can't do much on the lone goal.
Offensive contribution
Swiss top guns showed up. Once again, Hofmann leads with 7 attempts worth 0.85xG. Meier had 7 attempts too but worth 0.62xG. And finally, Andrigettho leads on xG Contribution.
If you were wondering, with the regression today, Switzerland has now scored 14 goals for ... 14.68 expected goals. All is well. And the bad guys scored 10 goals out of 6.81xG. Defensively, there's still good karma to come.
But more importantly, Switzerland is dominating at 5v5 so far with 11.18xG to 4.32 despite having already played three direct opponents (Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia). Even though they only scored 5 goals at 5v5, their play has been fine.
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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