Czechs made to fight hard against brave Danes to book quarter-final ticket against Canada

[p]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/czech-republic/OdY4GUuO/"]Czech Republic[/a] is through to the quarterfinal against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/dSsR389c/"]Canada[/a], after their 3-2 win over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/denmark/2mX8FleU/"]Denmark[/a].  [/p][p]The Czechs enjoyed a slight edge in the first period but could not make their dominance tell as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/andersen-frederik/OhFcnMIJ/"]Frederik Andersen[/a] turned away the few chances the Czechs created, as most of their shots missed the net. Denmark did have chances to get on the scoreboard through power plays early on, but couldn’t convert on them.[/p][p]The Czech Republic began the second period with plenty of determination, and when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/eller-lars/v9RHzzmG/"]Lars Eller[/a] received a high-sticking penalty five minutes into the period, the Czech pounced on the opportunity as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hronek-filip/xztP4JN0/"]Filip Hronek[/a] squared the puck for Martin Necas, who rifled home a shot into the top right-hand corner to open the scoring for Radim Rulík's side.[/p][embed guid="19c98925-9612-4431-8fe2-b3945bcfb6c9" url="https://x.com/IIHFHockey/status/2023822267080220833" social-type="twitter" /][p]The Danes, however, never gave up and restored parity three and a half minutes later when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/true-alexander/MioAO5Og/"]Alexander True[/a] passed to Joackim Blichfeld on the goal line, who sent the puck right back in front of the goal, and True tapped it home to spark celebrations in the Danish camp.[/p][p]Denmark barely had time to enjoy the equalizer as the Czechs restored the lead just 73 seconds later when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/rutta-jan/fRAvA3AA/"]Jan Rutta[/a] sent a hard delivery across the face of the goal where [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kampf-david/UJLSbNXR/"]David Kampf[/a] stuck out his stick to steer it into the open net. Subsequently, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/cervenka-roman/hCZtQI3B/"]Roman Cervenka[/a] then put the Czechs in solid control when the 40-year-old raced past the Danish defense to blast the puck into the top shelf of the Danish goal.[/p][p]But with the second period approaching the end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/olesen-nick/Q3nvhOtn/"]Nick Olesen[/a] gave the Danes new hope when he scored on a power play with a nifty move from the goal line, lifting the puck past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/dostal-lukas/vRjSW5ZF/"]Lukas Dostal[/a] to preserve the excitement for the final period. [/p][p]The third period remained scoreless, even though both sides had chances to add to the scoreboard as the Czechs hung on to secure the quarter-final ticket.  [/p]