Three members of the Winnipeg Jets are participating in the 2023 IIHF World Hockey Championship, which is being hosted in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia.
Saturday marked the ninth day of competition, and all three Jets were on the ice after none of them had a game scheduled on Friday.
In fact, two of those players - Nikolaj Ehlers of Denmark and Dylan Samberg of the USA - faced off against each other.
USA 3, DENMARK 0
The United States pushed their record to a perfect 5-0-0-0 on Saturday with their shutout win over Denmark.
This was the first game that the Danes were shutout, and as a result, it was also the first game that Ehlers didn't have a point. He did all he could, firing four shots on goal in 17:45 of ice time.
All the scoring in this one came in the third, with Cutter Gauthier breaking the 0-0 tie with 10:09 remaining in regulation. The power play marker came from the right circle, where Gauthier was able to beat Danish goaltender George Sorensen high on the short side to put the Americans in front.
Alex Tuch (who had three points in the game) then made it 2-0 with 4:30 left, with Rocco Grimaldi adding an empty netter in the final minute.
Samberg had two shots on goal and 19:47 of ice time in the victory.
The USA sits atop Group A and will take on France on Sunday, while Denmark (2-1-0-1, fourth in Group A) prepares for a big game against Sweden on Monday.
A battle between two of the top teams in Group B came down to the wire, but Nino Niederreiter and Switzerland improved to 5-0-0-0 thanks to a 3-2 win over Canada.
Niederreiter, the Swiss captain, assisted on Switzerland's third goal in the game, which came in the third period by showing incredible patience. With the puck on his backhand, he didn't force a shot on goal, instead wrapping it around and finding Andres Ambuhl for what was an insurance marker at the time - but ended up as the game-winner.
After a scoreless first, Tyler Toffoli gave Canada a 1-0 lead near the midway mark of the second. But the Swiss responded with three unanswered goals off the sticks of Nico Hischier, Dario Simion, and Ambuhl to take a 3-1 lead with 7:52 remaining in the game.
Michael Carcone made it interesting, scoring with 3:58 left in regulation to make it 3-2, but that's as close as Canada would get.
Switzerland has another big game on Sunday against Czechia, who is currently second in Group B.
