Three of the five Flames played in a “must-win” game. Two of them managed to do that, but the other saw his team lose its playoff round spot on the final day.

Let’s take a look at what went on in Day 12’s action of the 2026 IIHF World Championship, as well as look at what’s next.

Team USA vs Team Austria

A regulation win over Team Austria guaranteed Devin Cooley, Matt Coronato, and Team USA a spot in the playoff round. The Americans took down the Austrians rather easily.

Just five and a half minutes into the game, Connor Clifton opened the scoring for Team USA, which was followed up by Ryan Ufko’s goal less than a minute later. Entering the second period with a 2-0 lead, the Americans extended it to 3-0 thanks to Paul Cotter’s goal just 67 seconds into the middle frame.

Then with just over eight to play in the middle frame, Coronato picked up an assist on former Flame Matthew Tkachuk’s goal, extending their lead to 4-0. Team Austria got on back with under four to play in the second, but neither team scored after that as the Americans won 4-1.

Coronato picked up an assist on the goal, as well as a team-high five shots, but he had a rough time in the faceoff dot, going 2/9 for an 18.18 face-off percentage. He mustered 16:40 of action and finished the preliminary round with a goal and three assists in seven games, as well as a -5.

Cooley has earned the starter role, and he stopped 24 of 25 shots for a .960 save percentage. Over the five games he played in, Cooley had a .930 save percentage and 1.70 goals against average, going 3-2-0.

Team Slovakia vs Team Sweden

The other must-win game a Flame participated in was Martin Pospíšil, who saw his Team Slovakia fall 4-2 to Team Sweden, officially ending his tournament.

It started off well for the Slovaks, as Martin Chromiak opened the scoring five minutes in. But with four to play in the opening frame, the Swedes tied it. Then three minutes into the second period, Jakob Silfverberg gave Team Sweden a 2-1 lead, followed by Ivan Stenberg’s goal midway through the second period.

Marek Hrivík got one back for the Slovaks with just over three to play in the middle frame, but they were unable to find the game-tying goal for the last 23 minutes. With 75 seconds left on the clock, Swedish defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson iced the game with an empty netter.

Like Coronato, Pospíšil had a rough time in the face-off dot, winning five of 16 draws for a 31.25 faceoff percentage. The forward finished as a -1 with one shot on net over 18 minutes of action. For the tournament, he finished with a goal and four points in seven games, ending with a -1.

Team Finland vs Team Switzerland

The other game that mattered was Team Finland against Team Switzerland. Coming into this game, both teams had a 6-0-0-0 record, meaning that the winner took Group A. Two goals from the hosts, the Swiss, put the Finns in a hole early.

But in the second half of the second period, Aleksander Barkov scored twice to tie the game at two after 40 minutes. Receiving a late power play, Ken Jager scored with just over three to play in the game, giving the Swiss a 3-2 lead. Nico Hischier iced the game with an empty netter, leaving the Swiss as the lone team with a perfect record through the preliminary round.

Overall, it was a pretty quiet game from Flames’ defenceman Olli Määttä, who finished as a -1 with two shots on goal over just 19 minutes of action. Over his seven games, the left-shot defenceman has two assists, two penalty minutes, and is a +1.

Team Canada vs Team Czechia

The Canadians had already clinched first in Group B heading into Tuesday’s game against Team Czechia, but this game gave them a chance to finish the preliminary round unbeaten.

It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done. Six minutes into the first, the Czechs opened the scoring thanks to Marek Alscher. Then eight minutes into the second, Dominik Kubalik extended that lead to 2-0, but Team Canada woke up.

With six to play in the middle frame, captain Macklin Celebrini got them on the board. Then seven minutes into the third period, scored his second of the game to knot the game up at two apiece. That tie lasted a little over two minutes, as John Tavares scored the game-winning goal in what was a 3-2 Canadian victory.

It was another quiet game for Flames’ defenceman Zach Whitecloud, who finished as a -2 with a shot on goal over 17 minutes of action. Whitecloud also picked up a roughing penalty late in the first, but it didn’t hurt the Canadians as it was a coincidental penalty. Over the seven games, Whitecloud finished the tournament with no points, six penalty minutes, and as a -4.

Other notes…

There are just three more days of games this tournament, with the quarterfinals being on Thursday. Three Flames will go head-to-head, as Whitecloud’s Team Canada takes on Cooley and Coronato’s Team USA. It has a start time of 8:20 a.m. MT. Starting at the same time is Määttä’s game against Czechia.

The other two games on tap sees Team Switzerland take on Team Sweden, while Team Norway (who finished second in Group B) plays Team Latvia. The tournament will re-seed following the conclusion of the quarter-finals, with the semi-finals taking place on Saturday.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

Sponsored by bet365:

Editorials

Recent articles from Ryley Delaney

World Championships Recap Day 12: Team USA wins their must-win game, Team Slovakia does not

World Championships Recap Day 11: Team USA and Team Slovakia need a regulation win on Tuesday to punch ticket to playoff round

World Championships Recap Day 10: Team Canada defeats Team Slovakia, Team Finland remains perfect in the tournament