Olympics: Meier Scores Two, Switzerland Shuts Out France 4-0

 

Team Switzerland took on France on Thursday at the Santagiulia Arena, opening their Olympic campaign with a 4-0 shutout win, handing France an early loss. Timo Meier and Leonardo Genoni led the team to the victory with Meier netting two goals, and Genoni, who was flawless, turning away all 26 shots he faced to keep France off the board. Both Damien Riat and J.J. Moser also found the back of the net. Switzerland is back at it on Friday to take on Canada, while France will be facing Czechia.

Switzerland Lineup:

Fiala - Hischier - Thurkauf

Andrighetto - Malgin - Niederreiter

Kurashev - Suter - Meier

Riat - Jager - Bertschy

S. Schmid

Josi - Glausser

Siegenthaler - Kukan

Moser - Fora

Marti

Genoni

A. Schmid

France Lineup:

Texier - Bellemare - Perret

Fabre - Da Costa - Bertand

Addamo - Boudon - Rech

Bozon - Ritz - Treille

Auvitu - Guebey

Chakiachvili - Gallet

Crinon - Bosq

Keller

Junca

Only 55 seconds into the game, Damien Riat opened the scoring when he scored on the rebound of a shot by Sven Andrighetto, scoring a power-play goal to get things started for Switzerland 1-0. J.J. Moser made it 2-0 when he weaved his way through, firing a wrister from the left circle to get it past Antoine Keller at 16:54 of the first period.

After a scoreless middle frame, Timo Meier increased the lead to 3-0 when Roman Josi circled the net, his wrap-around going right to Meier, who tapped it in front at 9:52 of the third period. Meier found his second goal of the game with 3:47 to go after he threw a shot from the left circle that went right through Keller's pads for the 4-0 final.

Notes:

- Leonardo Genoni (38 years, 168 days) made 27 saves and became the oldest goalie to post an Olympic shutout with NHL players, surpassing Mike Richter (35 years, 151 days) in 2002.

- Antoine Keller made a total of 36 saves for France.

- This is the second Olympic meeting between Switzerland and France with NHL players. Their first was a 3-3 tie in the Group B prelims at Salt Lake City.

- J.J. Moser became the fourth Lightning defenseman to score an Olympic goal and the second this year, joining Victor Hedman. The others were Mattias Ohlund (2010) and Pavel Kubina (2006).

- Swiss goalies have recorded three Olympic shutouts with NHL players: two by Jonas Hiller in 2014 and one by Martin Gerber in 2006.

- Timo Meier became the first Swiss NHL player to score twice in an Olympic game. He’s the third Swiss player overall with a multi-goal game at an Olympics with NHL players, following Paul Di Pietro (2006) and Martin Plüss (2002).

- Roman Josi picked up his first Olympic point in his fifth game. The Predators’ single-Olympic-year points record is six, set by Shea Weber in 2010 and 2014 with Canada.

- Swiss NHL captains Roman Josi and Nico Hischier lead Switzerland into Milano Cortina, nearly 20 years after a historic win in Italy. In Torino 2006, Martin Gerber made 49 saves to shut out Canada - the most saves in a shutout at an Olympics with NHL players.

- Switzerland’s last Olympic goal with NHL players came from Martin Plüss in a 3-1 loss to Latvia during the 2014 Sochi qualification playoffs. Plüss later captained SC Bern, including in 2015-16 when they swept Auston Matthews and the ZSC Lions in the NLA quarterfinals.

- Seventeen players on Switzerland’s roster have NHL experience, including 10 active players. Roman Josi (NSH) is the highest-scoring Swiss player in NHL history.

- France’s last Olympic goal with NHL players was scored by Maurice Rozenthal in a 7-1 loss to Slovakia at Salt Lake City. The primary assist went to Philippe Bozon - whose son, Kevin, will suit up for France on Thursday.

- Kevin Bozon was born in Chamonix, host of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In that tournament, Canada’s Harry Watson scored a hat trick in the gold medal game against the U.S., whose roster included Clarence Abel - the first of 25 NHL-experienced players to serve as a U.S. Olympic flag bearer.

- Four French players have NHL experience, including Alexandre Texier (MTL), their only active NHLer. Texier is one of three French-born players to appear for the Canadiens and will become the first NHL player to represent France at the Olympics (none did in 1998 or 2002).