Canada vs. Switzerland: 2024 IIHF World Championship Odds, Prediction

Canada had their most impressive win of the tournament on Saturday, taking out Finland 5-3. Switzerland has also looked strong and they’re coming into Sunday fresh off an 8-0 blowout win over Denmark. Puck drop between the Canadians and Swiss on Sunday is set for 2:20 p.m. ET.

Canada opened as a -210 favourite to win on the World Championship odds, with the total set at 5.5.

Canada vs. Switzerland World Championship Odds

This could be a very important game in the Group A standings. Canada and Switzerland are tied for second in the group, but they both have the tiebreaker over current leader Czechia. With Czechia having played one more game than Canada and Switzerland, the winner of Sunday’s head-to-head will take over top spot in the group.

Canada opened the tournament with the second-shortest odds to win and that’s where they currently stand at +300, trailing Sweden at +225. Switzerland is +1100 to win the tournament on the World Championship futures board.

Team Canada

It was a tough start for Canada on Saturday as they trailed 2-0 less than four minutes into the game. They powered back an outscored Finland 5-1 the rest of the way, although they were outshot 32-22 in the game. Dylan Cozens, Brandon Tanev, Owen Power, Brandon Hagel and Dawson Mercer had the goals. Connor Bedard was held off the scoresheet for the first time this tournament. Bedard leads Canada with six points (5G, 1A) through the first five games.

Jordan Binnington had a nice bounce-back performance against the Finns, turning aside 29 of 32 shots faced. Binnington was torched for six goals on 21 shots in his previous start against Austria on Tuesday. With Sunday being a back-to-back, Joel Hofer could get the nod in net, which would set Binnington to start against Czechia on Tuesday. Hofer started the tournament-opener against Great Britain, stopping 13 of 15 shots faced in a 4-2 win.

Team Switzerland

Switzerland absolutely dominated Denmark on Saturday, with six different players recording multi-point outings. Nico Hischier (1G, 2A) and Kevin Fiala (2G, 1A) both had three-point nights and Roman Josi finished with a goal and an assist. Josi leads the tournament with 10 points (3G, 7A) and Hischier is second with nine (5G, 4A). Switzerland’s power play ranks second in the tournament, clicking at a 39.1 per cent (9-for-23) success rate.

Akira Schmid and Leonardo Genoni have split starts for the Swiss, with each goalie recording two wins and a shutout. Genoni leads the tournament in both save percentage (.946) and goals-against average (0.97), but he played on Saturday, so Schmid could be in line for the start against Canada.