How Nashville Predators Players Performed at the Quarterfinals of the IIHF World Championship

All Nashville players were on qualifying teams for the IIHF tournament. Here is how they performed in the quarterfinals.

Mar 15, 2026; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Nashville Predators goalie Justus Annunen (29) keeps an eye on the puck during the first period at Rogers Place. Mandatory Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images / Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images

The first round of the IIHF World Championship Tournament took place Thursday with eight teams fighting for bragging rights as this year’s IIHF World Champion.

Of the four quarterfinal games, three of them included players from the Nashville Predators. With six Nashville players in this year’s IIHF games, four of the players saw ice time in the opening round of the tournament phase.

Here is how each of the four Predators players performed in Thursday’s first round.

Team Canada

Predators center Ryan O’Reilly and Team Canada took down Team USA in the quarterfinals by a score of 4-0.

In the game, O’Reilly played 19 minutes and 38 seconds on the ice and won eight of his 16 faceoffs that he took part in. While he did not score a goal, he did assist on a Connor Brown goal that put Canada up 3-0. O’Reilly had one shot on goal and was +2 in the +/- category for the game.

Predators goalie prospect Jack Ivankovic did not see any time in net. He has yet to appear in a game for Team Canada in the IIHF game this year.

Team USA

In the United States' loss to Canada, Predators defenseman Ryan Ufko played in the game. Ufko did not have his best game of the tournament as he only played 16 minutes and 34 seconds and only had two shots on net.

With the Americans being shutout, Ufko did not record a point in the game as his team was outscored by two goals when he was on the ice. Team USA was eliminated from the IIHF games with the loss.

Predators prospect Ryker Lee did not see time in the game. In fact, Lee did not see any game action during Team USA’s run in Switzerland.

Team Finland

Predators goalie Justus Annunen put on a great performance as Finland’s starting goalie for the quarterfinal game against Team Czech Republic.

Annunen led Finland to a 4-1 win to advance to Saturday’s semifinal games. In the game, Annunen saved 25 of the Czech Republic’s 26 shots on goal for a save percentage of 96.1%. Annunen has been lights out throughout the whole IIHF games this month with only one loss since arriving in Switzerland two weeks ago.

Annunen will look to get the Finnish to the championship game Sunday, but will have to get through Team Canada in the semifinals to do so.

Team Switzerland

Nashville Predators veteran Roman Josi was all over the ice in Team Switzerland’s quarterfinal 3-1 win over Team Sweden.

In the game, Josi spent 25 minutes and 34 seconds on the ice and contributed to all three Switzerland goals. Trailing 1-0 in the first period, Josi tied the game with a goal before assisting on a Denis Malgin goal and a Calvin Thurkauf goal in the second period.

With his goal and two assists Josi finished the game with a game-high three points with four shots on goal.

With the win, Team Switzerland moved on and will face Team Norway in Saturday’s semifinals.

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