Buffalo Sabres Tage Thompson and Arttu Ruotsalainen each had the game-winning goals for their respective teams in action at the 2021 IIHF World Championships. The United States beat Norway, while Finland topped Germany. This was Thompson’s first game back after injury.
Here’s a look at Thompson’s goal, which held up as the game winner:
Tage Thompson pounces on another loose puck in front and it’s 2-0! 🇺🇸#IIHFWorlds #NORUSA @usahockey @BuffaloSabres pic.twitter.com/uDxwqmBEcp
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 29, 2021
And here’s Ruotsalainen’s goal, which came with under nine minutes to play:
Wakey wakeeyyyy!! How’s this for some action? 🔥
Arttu Ruotsalainen is on fire at #IIHFWorlds! Finland up 2-1 with 7 minutes to go in the game! 🇫🇮#GERFIN @leijonat @BuffaloSabres pic.twitter.com/20X8dxozwZ
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 29, 2021
Remember, Colin Miller is done for the tournament with injury. With him out, here are the remaining Sabres and their stats:
Tobias Rieder: 5 games played, 1-2-3, +2, avg. 14:18/game
JJ Peterka: 1 game played, 0-0-0, 0, avg. 13:33/game
Tage Thompson: 3 games played, 1-1-2, +1, avg. 12:29/game
Arttu Ruotsalainen: 5 games played, 2-1-3, 0, avg. 16:04/game
Lawrence Pilut: 5 games played, 0-2-2, +3, avg. 18:17/game
Victor Olofsson: 5 games played, 1-1-2, -2, avg. 17:07/game
Czech Republic 6, Great Britain 1
Czech Republic goals: Lukas Klok, Filip Hronek, Libor Sulak (2), Filip Chytil, Radan Lenc
Great Britain goal: Matthew Myers
Kazakhstan 11, Italy 3
Kazakhstan goals: Roman Starchenko (2), Yegor Petukhov, Yevgeni Rymarev, Nikita Mikhailis, Curtis Valk, Artyom Likhotnikov (2), Kirill Panyukov, Viktor Svedberg, Yegor Shalapov
Italy goals: Angelo Micelli, Peter Hochkofler, Alex Petan
ROC 4, Switzerland 1
ROC goals: Anton Burdasov, Pavel Karnaukhov, Sergei Tolchinski (2)
Switzerland goals: Nico Hischier
United States 2, Norway 1
United States goals: Conor Garland, Tage Thompson
Norway goals: Ken Andre Olimb
Slovakia 2, Denmark 0
Slovakia goals: Peter Cehlarik, Adam Janosik
Denmark goals: None
Finland 2, Germany 1
Finland goals: Anton Lundell, Arttu Ruotsalainen
Germany goals: Korbinian Holzer
Standings
Group A
1. Slovakia (4-0-0-1)
2. ROC (4-0-0-1)
3. Switzerland (3-0-0-2)
4. Czech Republic (2-1-0-2)
5. Denmark (2-1-0-3)
6. Sweden (2-0-0-3)
7. Great Britain (1-0-1-4)
8. Belarus (1-0-1-3)
Group B
1. Finland (4-0-1-0)
2. United States (4-0-0-1)
3. Kazakhstan (2-2-0-2)
4. Germany (3-0-0-2)
5. Latvia (2-0-2-1)
6. Canada (2-0-0-3)
7. Norway (1-1-0-4)
8. Italy (0-0-0-5)
Sunday’s Games
9:00 a.m., Belarus vs. Switzerland
9:00 a.m., Italy vs. Canada (Live on NHLN)
1:00 p.m., Sweden vs. Slovakia
1:00 p.m., Finland vs. Latvia (Live on NHLN)