McLellan said it was a “maintenance day” and expects him to play against Sweden, but if he can’t then North America would have to dress 13 forwards and five defensemen.
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Team Russia’s Vladislav Namestnikov (90) scores against Team North America goaltender Matthew Murray (30) during second period World Cup of Hockey action in Toronto on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.
The Vancouver Canucks’ Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 of 28 shots as Sweden held on for a 2-1 win over Russian Federation in a World Cup of Hockey preliminary-round opener for both teams on Sunday in Toronto.
North America doesn’t just belong in the elite tournament full of nearly 200 of the best players in the world; it might be one of the most skilled from top to bottom.
Two penalties back-to-back by Team North America started the period. Bobrovsky was brilliant as Russian Federation (1-1) bounced back from an opening loss to Sweden.
Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was standing tall but the relentless firepower was too much as Nugent-Hopkins made it 4-3.
In the third period Norway’s Mats Zuccarello gave the Europeans the advantage again but Martin Hanzal struck to continue the game past regulation time. They are a better team than the way we performed, and they came out and played that way (in the third).
Both Russia and North America are now 1-1 at the World Cup of Hockey.
The usually structured Finns couldn’t keep up with North America and rarely had the puck.
Be sure to not miss tomorrow night’s Team North America game, when Team North America takes on Alex Ovechkin and Team Russia! “I think we’ve definitely turned some heads and opened the eyes of everyone what the future of the National Hockey League is like”.
Sometimes the pace was so quick that Gaudreau said players stood up on the bench in anticipation of the next fancy move.
Watching North America try and chip away at the lead Russian Federation built up, however, made for a compelling finish that included a number of close calls.
“Just because we’re younger doesn’t mean that we’re not as good or something like that”, McDavid said.
“Unfortunately, when it goes into the record books, all 60 count”, McLellan said. We got back to our game plan, got back to utilizing our skill sets, our strength and speed. That 5-on-3 late in the game, that’s when we need to be able to do something.
To North America’s credit, they didn’t completely buckle.
Finland got overmatched by a team with far more talent.
Vincent Trocheck scored just over a minute later to make it 2-0. Morgan Rielly scored to cut the deficit to two goals at the end of the second period and the third was all about the young guns. “You can see everybody sacrificing, and we get the result”. “Hopefully we get some help from Finland”.
This one had just about everything: Goals, lead changes, shots off posts, big hits, breakaways, more goals, highlight-reel saves, odd-man rushes, power plays, even more goals.
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That’s why, with star defenceman Aaron Ekblad lost to injury, McLellan is prepared to lean on the 22-year-old Maple Leaf blueliner when North America meets Sweden in a critical preliminary round game Wednesday. Jacob Trouba replaced him, but Ekblad’s absence created a void of extra minutes that defensemen had to fill.
