Rest Of World Championship Will Be Knockouts For Six Kraken Players

The IIHF World Championship in Czechia has reached what's called the "Knockout Round," with six of seven Seattle Kraken players still alive for a medal.

The first two quarterfinal games start just after 7 am Thursday Seattle time.

Team Canada - McCann, Tanev, Oleksiak

Team Slovakia - Tatar

• Quarterfinal: Canada vs. Slovakia, 7:20 am Pacific.

This is the only Thursday game with members of the 2023-24 Kraken on opposite sides.

Team Canada (7-0-0) went undefeated in the preliminary round, winning two games in overtime after blowing multi-goal leads.

Defenseman Jamie Oleksiak so far has two assists and is +6.

Forward Jared McCann has scored two goals and is +3.

Forward Brandon Tanev has two goals, one assist, and is +5.

On one of Tanev's goals, Brandon was the only one in the arena who knew he scored.

Team Slovakia finished the prelims 4-2-1, winning once and losing once in OT. Forward Tomas Tatar was a standout, with one goal, five assists, and a +6.

Team Germany - Grubauer

• Quarterfinal: Switzerland vs. Germany, 7:20 am Pacific.

Team Germany enters the knockout round with a 5-2-0 record. Goalie Philipp Grubauer played in five of those seven games, recording an .891 save percentage and 3.21 GAA.

(Apologies for this highlight including more shenanigans from Calgary's Martin Pospisil, whose dirty hit in March left Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn with a neck injury.)

Team Sweden - Burakovsky

• Quarterfinal: Finland vs. Sweden, 11:20 am Pacific.

Team Sweden (7-0-0) won all of its games in regulation, leading the tournament with 21 points. (Three points awarded for a regulation win, two points for a win in overtime, one for an OT loss.)

Winger Andre Burakovsky has been a big part of Sweden's success - just as Kraken management hoped for a player hobbled by multiple injuries during the NHL season.

Burakovsky has four goals (two on the power play), six assists, has taken a healthy 20 shots, and is +9.

The fourth Thursday game doesn't include any Kraken players.

• Quarterfinal: USA (5-1-1) vs. Czechia (5-0-2), 11:20 am Pacific.

Bellemare & Fisker-Molgaard Heading Home

Coaches voted Pierre-Edouard Bellemare second-best player on Team France, which finished 1-5-1. Bellemare won 61% of faceoffs, 7th best in the tournament. He scored two goals, one on the power play.

Kraken draft pick Oscar Fisker-Molgaard was voted third-best on Team Denmark, which finished 2-5-0 and also didn't advance. The 2023 2nd round selection scored one goal, adding three assists.