Denmark equalled its staff excessive for essentially the most goals scored in a single in World Championship recreation, a 9-0 shellacking of Great Britain three years in the past to the day in Kosice, Slovakia. Kazakhstan’s most lopsided loss ever was 10-0 to the U.S. on 15 May, 2010 in Cologne, Germany.
“This was a huge win for us,” mentioned Danish goalie Sebastian Dahm, who made 25 saves. “It was the first game of the tournament, so it’s always important to get a good start, but if you want to look ahead for a quarter-finals chance, this was a key game for us. We’re thrilled we were able to not make this a tight game and we can look forward with optimistic eyes instead of worried eyes.”
The Danish energy play was red-hot, cashing in 4 instances, together with Joachim Blichfeld’s hat trick. Oliver Larsen and Frederik Storm had a aim and an help apiece. Captain Peter Regin, Patrick Bjorkstrand, Felix Scheel, and Julian Jakobsen additionally scored for Denmark.
Markus Lauridsen racked up 4 assists, whereas Nikolaj Ehlers chipped in three assists and Mathias Bau had two assists.
“It’s nice to have the crowds back in the rink,” mentioned Jakobsen. “We missed that. It’s about giving the fans a good time. We showed up today and got a win.”
Kirill Savetski had the lone aim for Kazakhstan. Simply put, the Kazakhs have been outskated, outplayed, and doomed by their many defensive errors.
“We have a lot of work to do,” mentioned Kazakhstan’s Curtis Valk. “Our team took too many penalties to begin with. They had a good power play and scored a couple of goals on it. We have to start the game better.”
Coach Heinz Ehlers’ staff is hungry to construct on the historic seventh-place end they recorded of their Olympic debut in Beijing in February. They have by no means been relegated since returning to the World Championship’s high division in 2003, when the event was additionally staged in Finland.
“It’s not exactly the same group, but what we did in February was a big thing for hockey in Denmark, and something we want to build on here,” mentioned defenceman Nicholas Jensen.
Kazakhstan additionally entered this event with optimism after ending in tenth place ultimately 12 months’s Worlds in Riga, an all-time peak for the previous Soviet republic. But this definitely wasn’t the beginning the squad that includes 13 gamers from the KHL’s Barys Nur-Sultan was wanting for.
Denmark outshot Kazakhstan 37-26.
Kazakh beginning goalie Andrei Shutov, a 24-year-old Ust-Kamenogorsk product, was pulled within the second interval after conceding 5 goals. Shutov had only one earlier World Championship recreation underneath his belt, a 4-2 loss to eventual champion Canada on the 2021 event in Riga, Latvia.
Kazakhstan performed with out star defenceman Darren Dietz. The 28-year-old import from Medicine Hat, Alberta, named the KHL’s high blueliner in 2019, is coming off his first Gagarin Cup title with CSKA Moscow. He additionally sat out the pre-tournament exhibition video games towards Latvia.
“Darren is a good player who brings it both offensively and defensively for us, but it’s no excuse for a 9-1 loss,” mentioned Valk.
On Sunday, Denmark will get a harder take a look at towards Switzerland, whereas Kazakhstan seems to be to bounce again versus France.
“We have to make some adjustments and prepare for the next game and get better,” mentioned Nicholas Jensen. “But we got three points today, so we’re happy.”