Red Wings Seider (1G, 2A) +1; Germany Loses 5-3 To Canada

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Moritz Seider was the best player on the ice. And his team lost.

The Detroit Red Wings defenseman did it all for Germany in his homeland’s opening game at the IIHF World Championship in Finland on Friday. He finished the game having scored one goal and figured in two other goals with assists.

But it wasn’t enough. Canada defeated the Germans 5-3.

🇩🇪💪 @deb_teams are on the board.#GERCAN #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/DnwNaWH4sR

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 13, 2022

Seider wound up playing a game-high 24:13 on the night. At 10:30. he was out for more than half of the third period. Seider collected a goal and an assist while Germany was enjoying manpower advantages. He also gathered one five-on-five assist.

Seider was not on the ice for any of Canada’s five goals, finishing the game with a plus-one rating.

Seider Leading World Tourney Scoring

With 1-2-3 totals, Seider and Finland’s Tony Rajala share the scoring lead following Day 1 action at the world tourney.

In the second period with Germany trailing 2-0, Seider executed what appeared to be a shot pass. He fired on net from a sharp angle. Canadian goalie Logan Thompson stopped the shot with his pad. However, he kicked it right to Germany’s Marc Michaelis, who scored.

Seider scores against Canada, his 3rd point of the game #LGRW pic.twitter.com/oZ5nMYOiRx

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) May 13, 2022

Seider scored in the third period during a 5-on-3 German power play. He snapped a high shot top shelf past Thompson from near the left faceoff dot. Earlier in the period, he drew an assist on a power-play goal by Matthias Plachta.

Award-Winning Defenseman

At last year’s world tournament, Seider was named IIHF Directorate Best Defender as the Germans finished in fourth place. He concluded the event with five assists in 10 games.

The rookie Red Wings blueliner is also a finalist for the Calder Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s top first-year player. Seider counted 50 points for the Red Wings this season. That’s the highest output by a Detroit rookie defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom gathered a club rookie-record 60 points in 1991-92. Lidstrom and Reed Larson (1977-78) share the points mark for a Red Wings rookie rearguard.

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Seider is the -240 betting favorite to be the first Red Wings player to win the Calder since goalie Roger Crozier in 1964-65. No Red Wings defenseman and no German-born and trained NHLer have ever been named the league’s top rookie.