STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Canada fell 3-2 in a shootout to Switzerland at the IIHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday.
It was just the second win over Canada for the Swiss in 28 world championship tournaments, following a 4-1 victory in 2010.
Former NHL goaltender Martin Gerber ended the shootout in the eighth round, stopping Canada's Matt Duchene after Reto Suri scored his second goal of the shootout on Mike Smith.
Denis Hollenstein and Nino Niederreiter scored in regulation for Switzerland. Winnipeg Jets forward Andrew Ladd and Matt Read of the Philadelphia Flyers were Canada's goalscorers.
Smith made 26 saves in his first world championship game for Canada and stopped six of eight in the shootout. Gerber stopped 19 in regulation and seven of eight in the shootout.
Duchene had three attempts in the shootout and scored on his first. Jordan Eberle was stopped twice. Read, Giroux and Steven Stamkos were also denied by Gerber, who played for five NHL clubs during his career and won a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Canada opened the tournament with a 3-1 win Saturday over Denmark and emerged from the opening weekend with four points out of a possible six. Norway is Canada's next opponent Tuesday.
Switzerland is coached by Sean Simpson of Brampton, Ont. The Swiss upset Sweden to open the tournament and had five points in the Stockholm pool.
Belarus edged Slovenia 4-3 earlier.
Defending champion Russia downed Germany 4-1 for their second win in Helsinki.
The top four countries in each pool of eight play in quarter-finals in their respective cities.
Canada led 2-1 at 7:35 of the third period, but Niederreiter tied it at 13:13. The former Portland Winterhawk was awarded the goal after a review.
The puck bounced off the cross bar into the crease and after a protracted scrum over a prone Smith, the puck slid under him.
Read found the opening between Gerber's left shoulder and the post with a sharp-angled snapshot to give Canada a 2-1 lead. Eberle set the goal up taking the puck behind the net and whipping it backwards to Read.
Ladd tied the game 1-1 at 14:33 of the second. Luke Schenn caged a long rebound off the backboards and Ladd tipped his pass in far side on Gerber.
The Canadians had just three practices as a team because the NHL's lockout-shortened season ended three weeks later.
While they looked disorganized in the first period against the Danes, they were simply sloppy in the first 20 minutes Sunday.
Half a dozen turnovers on Canada's side of the red line aided Switzerland's 12-3 margin in shots and their first-period goal.
Canada's Claude Giroux was stripped of the puck in the neutral zone. Julian Walker tipped it back to Hollenstein after gaining Canada's zone. Hollenstein beat Smith stick side with a blast from just inside the blue-line at 13:11.
Canadian head coach Lindy Ruff shifted Jordan Staal onto a line with his brother Eric and Wayne Simmonds for the game. The Staal brothers played for the last Canadian team to win a world title in 2007.
Ruff coached Canada to a silver medal in 2009, but there hasn't been a podium since. Canadian teams have lost three straight quarter-finals at the world championships.
