Slovakia needed a result on Day 2 of the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship and got one, while Sweden remained undefeated in group stage play.
After losing to the Swedes on Day 1, Slovakia got a late goal for a 2-1 win against Switzerland on Friday in Ottawa, while Sweden moved to two wins in as many games when it rolled over Kazakhstan 8-1 in games involving St. Louis Blues prospects.
* Slovakia 2, Switzerland 1 — Dalibor Dvorsky had an assist to give him two points (one goal Thursday) in as many games.
The first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (No. 10 overall) assisted on Daniel Jencko’s goal at 18:46 of the first period that gave Slovakia (1-1-0-0) a 1-0 lead:
The Slovaks scored the winning goal with 3:18 remaining by Jan Chovan.
Dvorsky led Slovakia forwards in ice time at 23:18 and was even on the day in plus-minus with two shots on goal.
Juraj Pekarcik, a 2023 third-round pick, didn’t have any points but was plus-1 and played 21:37.
* Sweden 8, Kazakhstan 1 — Otto Stenberg (first round, 2023, 25th overall) and Theo Lindstein (first round, 2023, 29th overall) each collected an assist to help Sweden improve to 2-0 in the tournament.
Each was part of the scoring on a goal by Alton Wahlberg at 12:18 of the second period to give Sweden a commanding 6-0 lead:
* Looking ahead — Czechia, which has four Blues prospects, will look to make it two wins in as many games when it opposes Kazakhstan at noon on Saturday, and USA will also look to make it two wins in as many games against Latvia at 2:30 p.m. Games can be viewed on NHL Network in the U.S. and on TSN in Canada.