the injured Fiala<\/a>, recovering in hospital from surgery, was a special boost.<\/p>\n\u201cFor sure it did,\u201d New Jersey Devils center Nico Hischier said after Switzerland\u2019s 4-3 overtime win. \u201cEmotionally it\u2019s never easy to see an injury like that. But all considered, he\u2019s doing well, and he said he still believes in us, he\u2019s going to always be with us, and he\u2019s trying to cheer us on as soon as he can. We definitely played for these guys that weren\u2019t in the lineup today. They\u2019re all a big part of our group.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we had guys step up that came into the lineup. That\u2019s what good teams do, they\u2019re resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added captain Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators: \u201cHe (Fiala) sent us a little video, spoke to the team a little bit. So he\u2019s good, he\u2019s in good spirits. We said before the game we were going to play for him. He\u2019s such a big part of this team and such a great leader. He\u2019s one of those guys when the national team calls he\u2019s always there. He loves playing for Switzerland. We feel for him, but hopefully put a little smile on his face today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Swiss were also without injured top-pair defenseman Andrea Glauser (concussion) and forward Denis Malgin (shoulder), both injured against Team Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe care about each other very much, and we care about winning,\u201d said Devils winger Timo Meier. \u201cThose are the two things that we really want to take care of. We\u2019re there for Kevin to support him no matter what. I think everybody feels that as well. That\u2019s why we\u2019re such a tight group.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teams can\u2019t bring in new players once the tournament starts, so the Swiss played with 12 forwards Sunday, one less than the maximum 13 allowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, all these three guys \u2026 It\u2019s very close group, been together for years, know each other,\u201d said St. Louis Blues forward Pius Suter. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously one of our top players. It\u2019s hard, especially such a tough injury, yeah, it kind of takes (hits) you. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we just come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before an electric crowd at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena \u2014 split pretty evenly between Czech and Swiss fans featuring duelling chants all game long \u2014 this was a dandy affair that saw the Czechs tie it 3-3 with 2:06 left on a goal from Colorado Avalanche star Martin Necas, setting up overtime.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Dean Kukan ended it with a laser top corner past Anaheim Ducks goalie Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l.<\/p>\n
The overtime win gave the Swiss two points, not the three they would have gotten in regulation, but still meant a second-place finish in Group A, and depending on the Latvia-Denmark matchup later Sunday night, means the Swiss will finish either as the fifth or sixth seed ahead of the Qualifying Round. A Latvia win in regulation Sunday night would leave the Swiss with the sixth seed, meaning a matchup likely with France.<\/p>\n
So Sunday\u2019s win ensures an easier path to the quarterfinals for Switzerland.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great win, we knew what was at stake,\u201d said Hischier. \u201cWe wanted to get that second spot (in Group A).\u201d<\/p>\n
Meier, meanwhile, continued his excellent Olympics so far, scoring again Sunday to give him three goals and an assist so far in three games. It\u2019s been a struggle this season with the Devils in the NHL, but here on the Olympic stage, we\u2019re seeing the beast mode version of Meier.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, he\u2019s playing at his full potential,\u201d said Hischier, his Devils teammate. \u201cYou can see it out there, he can hit, he can score, he can make plays, he\u2019s a very effective player when he\u2019s on his game. It\u2019s fun to play with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gives you room out there. If the puck goes deep and you have Timo on your neck, it\u2019s not a nice feeling. He\u2019s a very impactful player and great to see him being rewarded for his work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meier has been a physical force in this tournament on top of his offensive contributions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s fun, it\u2019s fun playing here,\u201d Meier smiled postgame. \u201cIt\u2019s fun having this opportunity to really come in and focus on what\u2019s happening here with this group. Obviously a lot of pride playing for your country, so I really try to play with fun and energy and try to bring my best to this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The loss means the Czechs have a tougher road ahead. They will likely be in the 8-9 Qualifying Round game (likely against Germany if the Germans lose to Team USA on Sunday night) and it would mean a quarterfinal matchup with Team Canada or Team USA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really like our effort, I really like where we are,\u201d said Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas. \u201cUnfortunately, the overtime loss cost us a good seed, but if we want to win we have to get through everybody. So it\u2019s obviously going to be a little harder than what it could have been, but if you want to win, doesn\u2019t matter who you get.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 A video message from Kevin Fiala provided extra inspiration for a Swiss team that already knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[5,54125,4,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-458879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hockey","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116075551007711911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}