The win put Team Europe at the top of the Group A standings which also includes tournament favorites Canada and the Czech Republic, who clash later on Saturday.
Advertisement
In the Nets, Part I: Canada goaltender Carey Price (Montreal) stopped all 27 shots he faced in his first official game in 11 months.
“It was a struggle for us”, United States coach John Tortorella. The first tiebreak will be regulation wins, just like the National Hockey League, so staying out of overtime will be important.
But if after watching that game you realized that maybe this tournament has some potential for fun and it won’t (just) be a long, slow slog towards the revamping of USA Hockey’s worldwide team plan, then today will be a treat. With offensive defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and 30-goal scorer Kyle Palmieri scratched, the USA struggled to generate quality scoring chances and finds itself in trouble one game into the tournament.
The Canadian captain was on the ice for four goals against the Czech Republic, finishing with one goal and two assists in a 6-0 win on Saturday evening.
The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army continued to blare out with each passing Team Europe goal.
The U.S. now must regroup after being shutout for three straight major tournament games that date back to the Sochi Olympics of 2014. The goal, however, was overturned after a replay review because it was determined that van Riemsdyk intentionally directed the puck into the net. “Obviously the next game is going to be huge for us”.
When the USA filled its roster out for the World Cup of Hockey, the players on it looked to by full of physicality and grit, but light in scoring and skill. “We’ve got to strike when we get those”. Centre Derek Stepan said they would take a couple days to practice, and then it was time to “get ourselves ready for the big dog”.
And when they did, when this lightly regarded amalgamation looked their opponents in the eyes, the Americans blinked.
Losing in regulation puts the Americans in a deep hole with only two games left in the preliminary round. It’s a spot that we didn’t want to be in.
Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews and Alex Pietrangelo also scored. “I started to get a feel for the game”.
Europe added two more goals in the second, Germany’s Leon Draisaitl finishing off a give-and-go with Switzerland’s Nino Niederreiter and Frenchman Pierre-Edouard Bellemare upping the lead to 3-0 with 1:28 left in the period.
“First and foremost, I think our play with the puck was pretty good tonight”, Kopitar said.
The Czechs couldn’t maintain their early pace and started to fade after the midway point of the first period. His best save may have been the first – Ondrej Palat redirected a shot just 41 seconds into the first that was turned down by Price. The Montreal star looked rusty in a 4-2 loss to the United States, but was sharper in a 3-2 overtime win over Russian Federation a few days later. “Bottom line is I think it hit Step’s helmet”.
“I’ll definitely take the fault on that one”, Kane said.
Advertisement
It was one of the only times Neuvirth would get the better of the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar, who seemed to be at an entirely different level from the rest of the players on the ice, a heady feat when you consider these were the sport’s elite he was playing both with and against.
