Phil Kessel, who was left off the Team USA roster for the World Cup of Hockey, on Wednesday said his tweet after the Americans were eliminated was not directed at the team’s players. Canada is +8 and Europe is +4. The victory pushed Canada into the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey and eliminated the Americans.
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Canada coach Mike Babcock said, “There was times tonight that I didn’t think we were even close to being as good as we’re capable of being”. This is a game I am not going to touch as Canada on paper should cruise once again but after a emotional win against the USA and their ticket already punched I see this one being a low scoring affair and as such see better value on the under than on the side. “Obviously we have to examine ourselves and what more could we have done and how can we get better for future tournaments”.
“It’s disappointing, frustrating, all different types of emotions”, Team USA coach John Tortorella said. “It’s on my watch and I certainly feel responsible”. “So yeah, it’s really disappointing”. Duchene tallied again before the first period ended and Patrice Bergeron made it 4-1 in the second.
Playing with desperation, the USA got on the scoreboard first with Ryan McDonagh banging home a loose puck for a 1-0 lead but Canada hit back nearly immediately with a pair of goals just 14 seconds apart from Matt Duchene and Corey Perry. The speedy Duchene scored twice in the opening period while Thornton chipped in with an assist. The most exciting show on ice has two victories and a one-goal loss but needs Finland to beat Russian Federation on Thursday to advance.
“It kills me to take (Dubinsky) out because of how he competes”, Tortorella said Tuesday morning. “Going into tonight’s game, I think it was very important that if they were going to get something, they had to earn it”.
Not to mention that if you want to avoid criticism, it’s always a good idea to go out there and not play like total crap. In both of their games they didn’t look like themselves.
The USA came out hot and scored the first goal in under 5 minutes against Canada’s goalie Carey Price.
It means that Canada will play Europe for the right to top Group A in the final round of matches, with the Americans’ game against the Czechs only being for pride.
The Europeans shocked the USA with a 3-0 victory in their first match and then saw off the Czechs 3-2 following overtime.
It was a day of rivalries at the World Cup as Finland and Sweden also faced off with the Tre Kronor claiming a 2-0 victory over the Finns behind the brilliant goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist, back in net after missing the opener with the flu.
The Swedes are in the driver’s seat for Group B, thanks to earlier wins over Russian Federation and Finland.
New York Rangers star Lundqvist said is hoping to play the group decider.
“Then in the second and third I felt more and more comfortable”.
In the long change period, the United States seemed to flutter more than flourish and made some mistakes that cost them the little momentum they were able to obtain.
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Anton Stralman and Loui Eriksson scored as the Swedes (2-0-0) got a firm grip on the top spot in Group B. Finland (0-2-0) is facing long odds for advancing to the semifinals.
