MONTREAL – Top to bottom, it was a strong start for the Canadiens’ representatives on the opening day of the 2025 IIHF World Championship.

Emil Heineman helped Sweden cruise to a commanding win over Slovakia, while Vinzenz Rohrer and Austria held their own in a hard-fought loss to Finland on Friday.

Here’s a brief summary of the games:

AUSTRIA 1 – 2 FINLAND

Finland squeezed out a narrow 2-1 win over Austria to kick off Group A action.

Austria thought they had tied things up in the third period when Marco Kasper — the team’s lone NHLer — beat the Finnish netminder. But the goal was overturned for goaltender interference, and that was as close as Austria came on Friday.

Rohrer logged 17:29 of ice time and won 50% of his faceoffs in the loss.

SWEDEN 5 – 0 SLOVAKIA

It took some time fo

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