Men's Ice Hockey World Cup of Hockey 2016

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North America - Russia  3-4

 

 

 

 

 

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Russia survives thriller

Four goals in second enough in 4-3 win over North America

Evgeni Kuznetsov scores the third Russian goal, skating around Morgan Rielly and beating Matt Murray under the arm.

 

Russia scored four goals in a six-minute span of the second period, chasing Matt Murray from the North American goal and surviving a ferocious onslaught in the final two minutes to prevail, 4-3.

With goalie John Gibson on the bench for a sixth attacker, and North America on a power play, Shayne Gostisbehere wired a shot off the post, missing tying the game by inches.

The win throws Group B wide open. Sweden, Russia, and North America are tied with two points, and Finland, after one loss, is in fourth. That could change tomorrow when the Finns and Swedes meet. Only the top two teams advance to the semi-finals.

"Our young guys stepped up today and Bobs [Bobrovsky] played well today," said Evgeni Kuznetsov, who scored the third Russian goal. "He was a well for us today."

"They play a fast-paced style, and so do we, so when two teams like that play you're going to get an exciting game," said North American captain Connor McDavid. "But they turned the game into a track meet in the second, and that's not what we need against them. We let them build speed, and there were too big gaps between their forwards and our defence."

The North Americans got the only goal of the opening period on what can only be described as vintage Connor McDavid. He drove down the right wing along the boards, fighting off the experienced Pavel Datsyuk all the way and picking up speed, no less. 

McDavid then slide a perfect pass to Auston Matthews racing to the net. Matthews had only to get his stick on the ice to redirect it into the open goal at 5:15. It was a highlight goal between last year’s first overall draft pick and this year’s.

But North America was more than just speed and skill. Goalie Matt Murray was again the backbone of the team, and defensively they were virtually letter perfect, checking the Russians quickly, moving the puck up ice with speed, and taking time away from their opponents. Only once did the Russians have sustained possession in the North Americans’ end, and Murray was letter perfect.

The kids came out strong in the second and fans rose in unison as McDavid got a loose puck and went in alone on goal. He tried a fancy stuff-deke, though, which didn’t fool Bobrovsky. It was a miss that would prove costly.

It took a while, but Russia finally started to assert itself. Vladislav Namestnikov got things going with a nice play…and a little luck. Murray stopped a shot from Ivan Telegin but couldn’t control the rebound. Namestnikov got to the puck, but his shot hit the post. The puck bounced back and hit Murray’s pad as he lay on the ice, trickling into the net at 9:29 to make it a 1-1 game.

In typical Russian fashion, they struck again just 50 seconds later. This time Nikita Kucherov smacked a loose puck in front that beat a surprised Murray, and North American found itself behind for the first time in the tournament.

It got worse before it got better. Evgeni Kuznetsov made it 3-1 when he beat Morgan Rielly to the outside and then took a shot which squeaked through Murray’s arm. Two minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko wheeled and fired off the rush, beating Murray who clearly had lost his confidence.

Coach Todd McLellan had little choice but to pull him in favour of John Gibson. The North Americans did get one back before the end of the period. Rielly corralled a blocked shot and rifled a wrist shot past the glove of Bobrovsky at 17:56 to make it 4-2.

North America got one goal back at 3:01 of the third on a power play. Nathan MacKinnon made a cute pass in front to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who poked the puck in to make it 4-3 with plenty of time remaining, but that fourth goal never came.

 

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North America - Russia   3-4  HIGHLIGHTS

 

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Laine - Barkov - Aho

Granlund - Koivu - Donskoi
Jokinen - Filppula - Komarov
Teravainen - Korpikoski - Lehterä

Ristolainen - Vaatanen

Lepisto - Maatta
Pokka - Jokipakka

 

Rask (Rinne)

 

Scratched: Lindell, Haula, Koskinen

 

 

 

D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Eriksson

Forsberg - Backstrom - Hornqvist
Hagelin - Kruger - Silfverberg
Landeskog - Backlund - Soderberg

Ekholm - Karlsson

Hedman - Stralman
Ekman-Larsson - Hjalmarsson

 

Lundqvist (Markstrom)

 

Scratched: Lindholm, Berglund, Enroth

 

[phelps 7,711]

finally, we had a day with 2 very closed and exciting games...

 

Mrazek, every time I see him, reminds me more and more of the great Dominik Hasek...totally unconventional style, amazing saves and sometimes a bit distracted (giving up some bad goals, too )...

I'm also always surprised by the European Team cohesion...I didn't really expect them to play like a true team, but they're going for it big time...

 

on the other side, Russia were very lucky to survive the late charge by the youngsters from North America...

 

I hope to see another couple of games like yesterday's also tonight, with the 2 super-classics between SWE and FIN and, above all, CAN vs USA, who desperately need a win in regulation to keep them in contention for a place in the semis (because if they win in OT and then CAN beat Europe in OT in the last game they would be out even by destroying the Czechs in their last match)...

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Sweden - Finland  2-0

 

 

 

 

 

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Sweden puts Finns in dire straits

Lundqvist leads Tre Kronor to key 2-0 win in Group B

Finland and Sweden battled for an important two points in the Group B standings this afternoon at the Air Canada Centre.

 

Henrik Lundqvist made his first start of the World Cup in fine fashion, stopping all 36 shots and leading Sweden to a 2-0 victory over Finland.

Anton Stralman scored in the second and Loui Eriksson added one into an empty net with 2.6 seconds remaining to seal a 2-0 win. The result deals a crushing blow to Finland's chances to advance to the semi-finals.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best hockey yet," Ericsson suggested, "but the team is like an engine. Everyone is doing what they have to to be successful within the team. At the same time, I think we can improve, control the game better. But we’ve done what we’ve had to so far.”

Only a series of fortuitous events can help them, starting with Suomi beating Russia in regulation on Thursday and Sweden beating North America in regulation. If that were to happen, North America, Russia, and Finland would be tied with two points each at which point goal differential would decide matters.

Unfortunately for the Finns, they're at -5, Russia is even, and North America +2, so the odds are not in Finland's favour.

"We’re disappointed," said Finnish goalie Tuukka Rask, "but I thought we played a great game today, especially after a very poor effort against the young team. Now we have to deal with it and see what tomorrow brings. We still have one game left."

The only reasonable scoring chance of the opening period came when Nicklas Backstrom rang a hard shot off the crossbar in behind Rask late in the proceedings.

In fact, it wasn’t until midway through the game that fans saw the puck cross the red line. Not surprisingly, it came off a play orchestrated by the sixth-sense passing of the Sedin twins.

Daniel curled and whipped a pass to Henrik in behind the goal. Henrik came out to th side of the net and slid a nifty pass to defenceman Stralman who was at the top of the crease, and Stralman beat Patrik Laine to the puck, red-recting it past Rask at 9:57.

"Daniel did a good job down low and got the puck behind the net," Henrik Sedin said. "I saw Anton sliding in from the point, and I was able to find him."

Laine had a great chance on a late power play to tie the game, but his great shot was stopped by the even greater glove hand of Lundqvist.

Sweden played stifling defence in the third period, but captain Mikko Koivu did have one close-in chance to tie the score, but Lundqvist was there to save the day.

“He’s the backbone of the team," Ericsson added, "so it’s good to know when you step on the ice that if you make a mistake it's not going to be the end of the world.”

 

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Sweden - Finland  2-0  HIGHLIGHTS

 

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Van Riemsdyk - Pavelski - Oshie

Abdelkader - Stepan - Kane
Parise - Kesler - Wheeler
Pacioretty - Backes - Palmieri

McDonagh - Carlson

Suter - Niskanen
E. Johnson - Byfuglien

 

Quick (Bishop)

 

Scratched: Dubinsky, J. Johnson, Schneider

 

 

 

Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron

Tavares - Getzlaf - Stamkos
Couture - Toews - Perry

Thornton - O´Reilly - Duchene

Vlasic - Weber

Bouwmeester - Doughty
Pietrangelo - Burns

 

Price (Crawford)

 

Scratched: Giroux, Muzzin, Holtby

 

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USA - Canada  2-4