It was not the way Switzerland drew it up on paper but the adage of a win is a win is a win, especially in a short tournament, was very evident Wednesday. Latvia gave the Swiss all they could handle for 59 minutes and 52 seconds but with 7.9 seconds remaining, Simon Moser, a prospect for the Nashville Predators, broke the scoreless tie and gave Switzerland a 1-0 lead and win. The win ties Switzerland with Sweden, who beat the Czech Republic 4-2, for the lead in Group C play.
Coming into the game, most, if not all, gave Latvia little chance to hang with and beat the Swiss. Heading into Wednesday's game, Latvia was 0-8 against the top eight teams (Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States) in Olympic history. But Latvia, behind strong netminding and 38 saves by Edgars Masalskis, hung with Switzerland throughout.
Moser sent the puck toward the front of the net from the left corner and it went in off a Latvian defenseman and past Masalskis for the only goal of the game. Mark Streit received the only assist on the goal as Switzerland avoided what would have been a somewhat devastating defeat, though the impact mainly would be on seeding for the next round. It's doubtful that the Swiss will be one of the teams that get a bye into the quarters and avoid the qualifying round, but with Sweden up Friday and the Czechs on Saturday, getting a win Wednesday was paramount.
Masalskis, the No. 1 goaltender for Latvia for years, appearing in 41 World Championship games and five at the Olympics, stoned Switzerland throughout. The Swiss carried play nearly all game, but every time they pressured Latvia, Masalskis was up to the task. He came up big in the first stoning a pair of Switzerland power plays and particularly had the number of Damien Brunner, who was flying and creating chances for his line, yet couldn't beat the Latvian goalie.
Jonas Hiller wasn't really taxed, but made 21 saves to notch the shutout on his 32nd birthday. He came up big where're needed, especially in the third, but the real story was Maskaskis. Obviously, offensively, the Swiss will have to be better but they did generate lots of good scoring chances and just were stoned by a goalie on the top of his game, even if it is one who hadn't really shown that type of performance in the past. Sweden has Lundqvist and the Czechs likely will go with Ondrej Pavelec after Jakub Kovar was pulled after his poor start Tuesday and replaced by Alexander Salak, though if Pavelec struggles against Latvia, Salak could start Saturday against the Swiss
The Swiss take a step up in class against Sweden on Friday and then face the Czech Republic on Saturday.