2023 IIHF World Championship playoff round
# 2023 IIHF World Championship playoff round

The playoff round of the 2023 IIHF World Championship was held from 25 to 28 May 2023. The top four of each preliminary group qualified for the playoff round.

## Qualified teams

| Group | Winners | Runners-up | Third place | Fourth place |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| A | United States | Sweden | Finland | Germany |
| B | Switzerland | Canada | Latvia | Czechia |

### Seedings

Quarter-finalists were paired according to their positions in the groups: the first-place team in each preliminary-round group played the fourth-place team of the other group, while the second-place team played the third-place team of the other group.

Semi-finalists were paired according to their seeding after the preliminary round, which was determined by the following criteria. The best-ranked semi-finalist played against the lowest-ranked semi-finalist, while the second-best-ranked semi-finalist played the third-best-ranked semi-finalist.

| Rank | Team | Grp | Pos | Pts | GD | GF | Seed |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | United States | A | 1 | 20 | +26 | 34 | 3 |
| 2 | Switzerland | B | 1 | 19 | +19 | 29 | 6 |
| 3 | Sweden | A | 2 | 18 | +19 | 26 | 4 |
| 4 | Canada | B | 2 | 15 | +14 | 25 | 2 |
| 5 | Finland | A | 3 | 16 | +13 | 28 | 1 |
| 6 | Latvia | B | 3 | 13 | +4 | 21 | 10 |
| 7 | Czechia | B | 4 | 13 | +6 | 22 | 5 |
| 8 | Germany | A | 4 | 12 | +11 | 27 | 8 |

Classification rules: 1) position in the group; 2) number of points; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored for; 5) seeding number entering the tournament

## Bracket

There was a re-seeding after the quarter-finals. If Finland and Latvia were to play in the quarter-finals, there would have been no cross-over for the quarter-finals.

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 25 May | 25 May | | | |
| 1A United States | 3 | | | |
| 1A United States | 3 | 27 May | 27 May | | |
| 4B Czechia | 0 | 27 May | 27 May | |
| 4B Czechia | 0 | 1 United States | 3 | |
| 25 May | 25 May | | 1 United States | 3 | |
| 25 May | 25 May | 8 Germany (OT) | 4 | |
| 1B Switzerland | 1 | 8 Germany (OT) | 4 | |
| 1B Switzerland | 1 | | | | 28 May | 28 May |
| 4A Germany | 3 | | | | 28 May | 28 May |
| 4A Germany | 3 | | | | 8 Germany | 2 |
| 25 May | 25 May | | | | | 8 Germany | 2 |
| 25 May | 25 May | | | | 4 Canada | 5 |
| 2A Sweden | 1 | | | | 4 Canada | 5 |
| 2A Sweden | 1 | 27 May | 27 May | | | |
| 3B Latvia | 3 | 27 May | 27 May | | | |
| 3B Latvia | 3 | 4 Canada | 4 | | | |
| 25 May | 25 May | | 4 Canada | 4 | | | |
| 25 May | 25 May | 6 Latvia | 2 | | Third place | Third place |
| 2B Canada | 4 | 6 Latvia | 2 | | Third place | Third place |
| 2B Canada | 4 | | | | 28 May | 28 May |
| 3A Finland | 1 | | | | 28 May | 28 May |
| 3A Finland | 1 | | | | 1 United States | 3 |
| | | | | | 6 Latvia (OT) | 4 |

All times are local (UTC+3).

