A pair of Red Bull Salzburg players contributed to a big win for Austria, while a pair of Karpat Oulu linemates did likewise for Finland.

PRAGUE and OSTRAVA – On the penultimate day of the World Championship group stage, four teams finished up their shedule and some teams moved closer to qualifying, but nothing was totally decided. 

In a crucial game in Prague, the Austrians staved off relegation by beating Germany 3–2 in a shooutout. Captain Thomas Raffl scored for the Austrians in regulation time and Red Bull Salzburg teammate Konstantin Komarek scored the shootout winner, while German captain Michael Wolf of Red Bull Munich scored the equalizer for Germany with just 2:00 left in regulation time to earn his team a point. All is not clear for the Austrians, though, as their place in next year's elite group won't be guaranteed until the outcome of Latvia–France is known.

“Sure, we got the point and we held onto fifth place, but you hate to lose, especially to Austria,” Adler Mannheim's Daniel Pietta said afterward.

At the same time in Ostrava, Belarus earned one point closer to a quarter-final spot by scoring a tying goal in the last minute against Finland, ultimately falling 3–2 in a shootout. Joonas Donskoi scored two more goals, including the shootout winner, while Karpat Oulu teammate added another assist and now has nine points in the tournament. The Finns are now tied for second place in Group B with Russia – that will be decided when the two teams meet on Tuesday night.

In the late games, former Djurgarden Stockholm forward Damien Fleury scored two goals for France, giving them a 2–1 lead, and very nearly completed the hat-trick later, but Sweden came back to win 4–2. 

“I have a good record against (Jonas) Enroth,” Fleury said afterward. “I scored against him in Sweden during the NHL lockout.”

And in a match-up between two teams at the bottom of Group B that had no bearing on the standings, Slovenia got a goal at the 10-minute mark from Ziga Pance – who played in the CHL last year for HC Bolzano – and that stood up for a 1–0 win over Denmark.