The first ten minutes of the second period were also rock solid, but tough penalties – which also occurred in the World Championship game – shifted momentum to the German side. One second before a power play expired, the hosts scored to take the lead, and in the final period another man-advantage led to the 0-3. After that, it was all over.
Speaking to LAOLA1, head coach Roger Bader finds it hard to draw a direct comparison to the World Championship game. "They are completely different teams; at the World Championship, Germany always has a few NHL players. But chronologically, you could look at it that way."
Errors were "ruthlessly exploited"
Until the 0-1, "everything was fine," and the first penalty kill before that was "very good," said the Swiss coach. But then Germany, under new coach Andre Rankel, took control of the game and showcased the quality in their ranks.
"It was an insanely good German team," said Benjamin Nissner. Germany was better in possession of the puck, while Austria was sloppy at times. "They ruthlessly exploited that," said the Salzburg forward.
Der Sieg für Deutschland ist verdient, aber ein, zwei Tore zu hoch ausgefallen.
Bader, for his part, was most annoyed by the 0-2 goal. "It shouldn't happen that an opponent gets a free shot in the slot," the 61-year-old criticized.
The sticking point was that despite a few good chances, they simply failed to score a goal. "Of course you can't win like that," the Swiss native acknowledged. "Germany's victory is deserved, but one or two goals too high."
Plenty of positives nonetheless
Nevertheless, the head coach takes away positives for the next two games against Slovakia (Saturday, 3:00 PM) and Latvia (Sunday, 11:00 AM).
"I am pretty satisfied with the five-on-five performance. We implemented a lot of what we set out to do and trained for," Bader said.
He is convinced "that during the video analysis we will find many positive things that we will show." The errors that led to the conceded goals will also be shown to the team again.
Bader: "When it comes to forechecking, transition play, or D-zone coverage, I am convinced that we had some very good moments. We want to repeat those."
