Hockey World Championship 2019 Knockout Round Schedule and Predictions

Tuesday marked the final day of group play before the knockout phase begins at the 2019 Hockey World Championships, though there wasn't a lot of drama. 

All eight spots in the quarterfinals were already locked up coming into today. The only thing left to be determined was the seeding for the quarterfinals. 

Below is a look at the schedule for the knockout phase and what to expect from the rest of the tournament. 

Hockey World Championship - Quarterfinal Round (May 23)

Canada vs. Switzerland: 10:15 a.m. ET

Russia vs. United States: 10:15 a.m. ET

Finland vs. Sweden: 2:15 p.m. ET

Czech Republic vs. Germany: 2:15 p.m. ET

Predictions

After two straight losses, Germany got back on track with a 4-2 victory over Finland to close out Group A play on a high note. 

The defeat spoiled Finland's opportunity to clinch Group A. The Finnish team will now go up against a Sweden group that scored more goals than any team in group play (41).

Meanwhile Germany will take on a Czech Republic team that finished play in Group B with six wins in seven games.

Offense has been easy to come by for the Czech Republic squad. It finished group play second in goals scored (37) and scoring percentage (15.66). 

With the exception of Russia, there isn't a team playing better in this tournament than Canada after a 3-0 victory over the United States. 

Since losing to Finland in the first game of the championships, Canada has won six straight games and outscored its opponents 35-8 during this stretch.

The Canadians didn't waste any time exerting their dominance over Team USA on Tuesday. Pierre-Luc Dubois got his team on the board less than two minutes into the first period. Kyle Turris gave Canada a 2-0 advantage six minutes later. 

That was more than enough for Matt Murray, who stopped all 33 shots he faced to record Canada's second consecutive shutout. 

Canada will open quarterfinal-round action against Switzerland. The United States have the unenviable task of trying to get past Russia with a spot in the semifinals on the line. 

Russia capped off a perfect run in Group B with a dominant 7-4 win over Sweden that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. 

It's not a secret the Russians are on a mission to win this year's championships after failing to make it out of the quarterfinals last year for the first time since 2013. 

Head coach Ilya Vorobiev has led Russia to a 7-0 start in the tournament and a 36-7 scoring margin. The Russian squad was up 6-1 with eight minutes remaining before taking their foot off the gas pedal. 

Yevgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Mikhail Grigorenko, Yevgeni Dadonov, Kirill Kaprizov and Artyom Anisimov all scored goals, and 12 different players had at least one point for Russia in the win.  

Russia is the only undefeated team still in the tournament. It has the largest goal differential (+29) and is the only team that allowed fewer than 10 goals in group play. 

Until someone proves it can knock Russia down, this is the team to beat and the one that will leave Slovakia with its first title at the Hockey World Championships since 2014.