In the sixth game of the IIHF World Championship 2026 has Men's national team In front of 9.685 spectators at the Swiss Life Arena, they won against Austria 6-2 (0-0, 2-1, 4-1). DEBThe goal scorers were Lukas Reichel (3), Joshua Samanski, Manuel Wiederer and Alexander Ehl.
Goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer started again today, and both teams played an intense game from the outset. Despite a steady flow of play with few interruptions, there were hardly any clear-cut chances. After ten minutes, Maximilian Kastner received a two-minute penalty. Even during this penalty kill, the German team didn't allow any significant scoring opportunities. DEBThe Austrian team now created more good scoring opportunities, which Atte Tolvanen in the Austrian goal was able to thwart. The game, which had been evenly matched up to this point, went into the first break scoreless.
Austria got off to a better start in the second period: After a quick counter-attack, Leon Wallner scored to give them a 1-0 lead (23rd minute). Just 66 seconds later, Reichel equalized directly after a superb pass from Samanski (24th minute). The German team continued to press their attacks and now had more possession. In the 34th minute, Samanski himself scored to make it 2-1. A German power play shortly before the intermission failed to produce a goal.
In the final period, Germany, coached by Harold Kreis, had a power play starting in the 44th minute, and just seconds before the penalty expired, Reichel scored his second goal of the evening to make it 3-1 (46th minute). Wiederer then extended the lead to 4-1 with his first international goal (48th minute), but just 34 seconds later, Vinzenz Rohrer narrowed the gap to 4-2 (48th minute). A double penalty against Austria's Peter Schneider and another penalty shortly afterward gave Germany a 5-on-3 power play, during which Reichel completed his hat trick to make it 5-2 (52nd minute). When Austria pulled their goalie for an extra attacker, Ehl scored into the empty net to seal the 6-2 victory (55th minute).
As the best DEBLukas Reichel was chosen as the player.
The final World Cup match in Group A takes place on Monday evening. The opponent is the team from Great Britain. Kick-off is at 20:20 pm.
Statistics for the game #AUTGER
Voices on the game #AUTGER
National coach Harold Kreis: "Our team put on a very committed performance today, displaying great physical and running intensity. That was our plan, and it worked out perfectly for the full 60 minutes. The team deserved the victory, both in terms of their play and, above all, their fighting spirit. This is a very good result for our morale. We can no longer influence the other group matches, only our game against Great Britain on Monday. We'll go into that one with full force."
Defender Leon Hüttl: "We got off to another good start today. We knew it would be intense, especially since it was an important game for us that we absolutely had to win. So these are three crucial points. We scored at the right times again, and finally on the power play too. It all starts again on Monday, so we have to play our best hockey and we'll give it our all for another victory."
Forward Joshua Samanski: “It was clear we had to win this game. We dominated for over 60 minutes. After falling behind, we immediately came back, which we did very well. Our power-play goals were also important for our confidence. It was a lot of fun on the ice today with the team and in our formation. The three of us created chances in every game, and today the pucks finally went in.”