Ekblad, 20, is headed back to Florida and will miss the remainder of the World Cup of Hockey for Team North America, a source told ESPN, confirming a report by the Miami Herald.
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Henrik Lundqvist (G, Sweden): 45 saves on 49 shots in 4-3 loss to North America. But Sweden got the point it needed to advance to the semifinals, while North America needs Finland to beat Russian Federation on Thursday.
Nicklas Backstrom pulled Sweden back to within a goal later in the period when his shot ricocheted off the toe of a US defenseman and into an open net with the goalie out of position.
“Obviously we knew we can’t lose the game”, captain Alex Ovechkin said.
And finally, Nathan MacKinnon ended the game with this lovely dangle in tight on Lundqvist, thanks to Johnny Gaudreau’s brilliant pass. Forsberg had two shots on goal while Backstrom had one. North America dominated play in the second, controlling shots and possession. With its four-goal barrage, the Russians threw a ton of adversity at the kids and, while they responded well, they allowed their opponent to dictate the tone of the game, perhaps for the first time since they began playing together.
After five goals in the first period, neither team would score in the second.
Vincent Trocheck scored just over a minute later to make it 2-0.
“We just lost our way for 10 minutes”, McLellan said.
When youre a group of young players, youre looking for somebody just to take charge and settle it down, maybe get a shift or two under your belt, and we didnt get that quick enough, McLellan said.
Said McDavid, “We just turned it into a track meet”.
On Wednesday, the U-23 team faced off against Sweden. Canada (1-0) will be trying to match Team Europe at 2-0 with a win tonight over Team USA.
A scoreless second period occurred, which however was not devoid of action thanks to several power plays and chances at either end of the ice.
Sweden overcame an early two-goal deficit to clinch first place in Group B and a spot in the semifinals by getting to overtime and earning a single point. That means there would be a four-way tie with one game to play if Finland beats the Swedes today in regulation.
“Jaro is playing great”, Tavares said.
First, goaltender John Gibson made a huge save on a Daniel Sedin breakaway that would have ended North America’s chances right then and there.
Indeed, the victor of Wednesday’s game at the Air Canada Centre will end up atop Group A at the World Cup of Hockey, thereby punching a date with the second-place finisher in Group B in the semifinals. The group is made up of players from Slovakia, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Slovenia, Austria, Norway, France and Italy, but they are gelling like a team that all speak the same language on the ice.
“Even though we didn’t win the game, I feel like we did”, said Erik Karlsson, appropriately summing up the utter insanity of the afternoon, its wild swings and tone set in an opening few minutes that amounted to something he said he’d never felt off the top of a hockey game before. It was Matthews’ second goal of the tournament.
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If the Canadians want to have similar success in their third game, they’ll need their blue line to be the standout x-factor.
