The preliminary games of the World Championship in Czechia wrapped up on Tuesday, and six Penguins players are on teams that advanced to the quarterfinal round as the playoff games are set to begin on Thursday.
Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson and Sweden went undefeated in their seven preliminary games to lead Group B in the standings. They'll play Valtteri Puustinen, Jesse Puljujarvi and Finland in the quarterfinals after Finland went 3-3-1 in preliminary games.
Michael Bunting and Canada also went undefeated in the preliminary games, though lost two points in the standings for two overtime wins -- the World Championship follows a 3-2-1 point system, rewarding teams more for regulation wins. They still finished atop the Group A standings and will play Slovakia in the quarterfinals.
Alex Nedeljkovic and the United States finished No. 2 in the Group B standings with a 5-1-1 record and will play Czechia in the quarterfinals.
The other quarterfinal game -- Switzerland vs. Germany -- features no Penguins players.
The winners of the four quarterfinal games will be reseeded and advance to the semifinal games on Saturday. The two losers of the semifinals will play for bronze, and the two winners will play for gold, with both medal games being held on Sunday.
Great Britain and Poland finished last in their groups and will be relegated to the Division 1A tournament for the 2025 tournament in Sweden and Denmark. They'll be replaced by Slovenia and Hungary after the teams earned promotions from the Divison 1A tournament earlier this month.
Raivis Ansons and Latvia, Justin Addamo and France, and Thimo Nickl and Austria did not qualify for the playoffs this year but their teams avoided relegation for next year's tournament.
Karlsson finished the tournament tied for fifth in scoring with five goals and five assists in seven games. He was second to only Roman Josi's 11 points among defensemen.
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• Finland lost to Switzerland, 3-1, in its final preliminary game. Puljujarvi had one shot on goal and a minus-2 rating in 13:14, and Puustinen didn't play. It's not clear why Puustinen didn't play, but Finland had already clinched a spot in the playoffs prior to their game and couldn't move up in the standings, so it was meaningless.
• Canada beat Czechia, 4-3 in overtime. Bunting was scoreless with one shot on goal and an even plus/minus in 13:05.
• Sweden beat Slovakia, 6-1. Karlsson scored Sweden's second goal:
Pontus Holmberg got the puck from behind the net to Erik Karlsson, who just made it 2-0 Sweden. #MensWorlds pic.twitter.com/o9a2dm5Sll
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 21, 2024
Karlsson also recorded primary assists on Sweden's third and sixth goals. In addition to his three points, he led Sweden with nine shots on goal -- five more than any other Swedish player. He was a plus-2 in 22:03. Pettersson was scoreless with one shot and a plus-2 rating in 17:14. Sweden switched up its defense pairings for this game and moved Pettersson from the third pairing to the top pairing alongside Karlsson.
• The U.S. beat Latvia, 6-3. Alex Nedeljkovic dressed as backup to Charlie Lindgren. Ansons was scoreless with no shots and an even plus/minus in a team-low 5:20 for Lavia.
• France lost to Germany, 6-3. Addamo had the primary assist on France's opening goal, no shots and a plus-1 rating in 15:11.
• Austria lost to Great Britain, 4-2. Nickl was scoreless with no shots on goal and an even plus/minus in 17:48.
