World Hockey Championship: Juraj Slavkovski shines in setback for Slovakia

Juraj Slavkovski finished his NHL season in style and clearly hasn't lost any of his game.

The Montreal Canadiens forward kicked off the World Series of Hockey with an offensive outburst Friday afternoon in the Czech Republic.

Despite Slavkovski's offensive success, Slovakia lost 6-4 from the start to Germany. Slavkovskiy, who also had six shots on goal, finished the match with a plus-2 rating.

Slavkovsky is used to having strong moments on the international stage. In 2022, before he was the Canadians' first option, he scored seven goals in seven games at the Olympics, before adding nine points in eight games at the World Hockey Championships. The injury prevented Slavkovski from representing his country in the 2023 World Championship.

But on Friday afternoon, the performance of Slavkovski and Slovakia, which dominated 39-22 in shots on goal, was not enough for the nation to start the tournament on a high note.

Jones Müller, Mark Michaelis, Leonhard Pfoederle, Dominik Kahun, Lucas Kalbly and Tobias Eder all scored for the Germans, while goalkeeper Philipp Grubauer made 35 stops.

For Slovakia, Slavkovski was complicit in the goals of Libor Hodasek and Matos Sokl. Marek Hrvik and Martin Fehervari also hit the target.

Slovakia will continue its tournament campaign on Sunday against Kazakhstan.

The United States is broken up by Sweden

Sweden started its tournament well by defeating the United States 5-2 in its first match.

Montreal Canadiens star player Cole Caufield has been held on probation. It was used for more than 16 minutes.

Joel Eriksson scored twice for Sweden, including an empty-net goal.

Lucas Raymond, Marcus Johansson and Victor Hedman have the others.

Zach Werenski and Brooke Nelson responded to the Americans

In other matches in the programme, Switzerland beat Norway 5-2, and the Czech Republic beat Finland 1-0 on penalties.