Germany had a dream start to the game when Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring by cutting the puck into the net behind Frederik Andersen after a mere 23 seconds of play. A real nightmare start, which the Danish players took a few minutes to recover from.
After the opening goal, the game became completely even, and especially the attacking trio of Nikolaj Ehlers, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Alexander True caused the Germans a lot of problems.
Ehlers played an excellent game and created a series of opportunities, one of which Oscar Fisker Mølgaard took advantage of after 13 minutes.
The great talent skated almost directly from the substitution box in front of the German goal and converted Ehlers' precise cross pass to restore parity at 1-1.
After a bright Danish start to the second period, Tim Stützle scored twice to put the Danish hopes on thin ice.
First, he took advantage of a pass from behind the goal after Molgaard failed to tackle properly. And halfway through the period, the Germans made it 3-1 on a power play, where Oliver Lauridsen was unfortunate to steer Stützle's pass past Frederik Andersen in the Danish goal.
It was tough luck for the Danes, who actually did many things right. The defenders occasionally had pace problems, but solved most situations with experience and good positioning skills.
In the attack, the Danes played with plenty of creativity, but one could have wished for more from the trio with Lars Eller, Nicklas Jensen, and Joachim Blichfeld, who spent too much time in their own zone.
A disciplined German team stayed away from the penalty box, and therefore, the Danish power play was never tested.
In the other matches of the day, Canada proved why they are considered favourites of the tournament when they crushed the Czech Republic 5-0, while World Championship runners-up Switzerland also cruised to a 4-0 win against France. Also, Team USA had an easy start to the tournament when they won 5-1 against Latvia.
