Things have been going great for Edmonton Oilers players at the 2026 IIHF World Championship, but there were a few disappointing results on Saturday.

There were three Oilers in action. Isaac Howard’s USA took on Latvia, falling 4-2, Mattias Ekholm’s Sweden fell 3-2 to Norway, and Josh Samanski’s Germany defeated Austria 6-2. It’s bad news for the Americans, as they are on the cusp of being eliminated from the playoff round.

Let’s take a look at what went on in Saturday’s slate of games.

United States vs. Latvia

The Americans were looking to turn their tournament around with a matchup against Latvia. They were unable to achieve that. The lone scoring in the first period belonged to Latvia’s Haralds Egle, but Matthew Tkachuk tied it at one late in the second period.

Latvia took a 2-1 lead six minutes into the third period, then buried an empty netter with 62 seconds left. I’m sure the Americans regret that pull, as Mathieu Olivier scored for the Americans just 11 seconds later. Once again, Latvia buried an empty netter for a 4-2 victory.

As for Howard, it was a quiet game for the Oiler. He played just over 10 minutes, with only Max Plante playing fewer minutes in this game. He still managed to fire two shots and was an even 0 in terms of plus/minus, but he didn’t get much of an opportunity to make an impact. Which is a shame, as Howard leads the team in goals and is tied with Olivier for points.

Germany vs. Austria

Later in the day, Germany’s Josh Samanski had his best game of the tournament in their 6-2 victory over Austria.

Two minutes into the second period, Leon Wallner opened the game’s scoring,........

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