HERNING - The third period of the world hockey championship quarterfinal between Canada and Denmark was dominated by a team that outshot its opponent 22-10 and scored a pair of game-breaking goals less than two minutes apart.
But it was not 28-time champion Canada, captained by Sidney Crosby and loaded with top NHL talent, that showed the killer instinct Thursday at a rocking Jyske Bank Boxen arena.
Plucky tournament co-host Denmark, which needed a shootout victory over Germany on the last day of preliminary round action just to reach the quarterfinals, saw Canada off with a 2-1 victory to the delight of their home fans.
Canada was eliminated despite having a team with several players from its championship roster at this year's 4 Nations Face-Off, including Crosby, 2024 NHL MVP Nathan MacKinnon and goaltender Jordan Binnington.
With Canada clinging to a one-goal lead, the Danes pulled goaltender Frederik Dichow for an extra attacker with just under two minutes remaining. The move paid off when Nikolaj Ehlers — playing in just his second game of the tournament after joining Denmark following the elimination of the Winnipeg Jets from the NHL playoffs — fired a shot through traffic that eluded Binnington.
Riding a wave of confidence, the Danes completed the upset when Nick Olesen picked up a rebound and scored with 49 seconds remaining, sending Denmark to the semifinals for the first time.
Denmark owes much of its victory to Dichow, who stopped all 30 shots he faced over the opening two periods to frustrate the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøs and give his team no shortage of swagger. Canada outshot Denmark 18-4 in the first period alone.
Canada defenceman Travis Sanheim finally solved Sanheim at 5:17 of the third period, but the Danes would not back down. Binnington was called upon to make several saves as Canada held onto its tenuous lead before the Danes ultimately broke through.
Denmark appeared to open the scoring in the second period when Morten Poulsen scored on a breakaway, but the goal was disallowed due to a glove pass.
Dichow, a Montreal Canadiens fifth-round pick in 2019 who plays for HV71 Jonkoping in Sweden, made 39 saves overall, while Binnington stopped 30 shots for Canada.
Canada rolled into the quarterfinals after finishing first in Group A, ending the preliminary round with an emphatic 5-3 win over co-host Sweden in Stockholm.
The Danes will face Switzerland, which routed Austria 6-0 on Thursday, in the semifinals on Saturday. The United States will take on Sweden in the other semifinal.
This report by ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø was first published May 22, 2025.
