The game is going to be incredible so click to watch.
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What’s that, you say?
“You could argue some of those guys would have made our team or been in consideration for making the American team”, US star Patrick Kane said Thursday.
Sweden won its round-robin opener at the World Cup 2-1 against Russian Federation on Sunday and blanked Finland 2-0 on Wednesday before falling 4-3 in overtime to Team North America on Wednesday.
We love this sport so much even when it infuriates us to no end (hello, toenail challenges).
Let’s just see that again, shall we?
Team Europe, made up of players from eight different countries, stunned the Americans 3-0 in the tournament opener and defeated the Czechs 3-2 in overtime before falling 4-1 to the Canadians on Wednesday.
Sweden (2-0-1) overcame an early two-goal deficit to clinch first place in Group B and a spot in the semis by getting to overtime and earning a single point against North America.
What a bummer that would be. Would McDavid and Matthews, for instance, be forced to play for the squad again in four years or would they be exempt and permitted to play for Canada and the United States respectively? “I thought that we could have fun playing as a team”, he said.
And, of course. Nathan MacKinnon’s overtime victor. One more game to see future blueline studs Shayne Gostisbehere, Colton Parayko and Seth Jones.
The OT victor impressed a few National Hockey League players as well.
“We had many good scoring chances, but he was playing awesome in the net”, Laine said.
Who do you think is going to win this game, HollywoodLifers? . “We’re definitely excited about that”. And the closer things stayed, the more unsafe Sweden became, eventually tying the game in the third period.
While heading into the final game of the round robin with a 1-1 record isn’t ideal for this group – especially against a strong Swedish club – it’s hard to count out a team that looked so poised heading into the first game of the tournament. The puck came to Morgan Rielly at the point, and his shot created a rebound for Auston Matthews to bang home just 30 seconds after the opening faceoff.
Then came Gaudreau’s missed penalty shot 26 seconds later. It was 2-0 and the building was in an uproar. “I felt pretty old there”.
Gaudreau finished the afternoon with one goal, one assist and six shots on net in 18:29 of ice time.
With starting goalie Matt Murray out with a thumb injury, John Gibson stopped 35 of the 38 shots he faced. It was an overtime with breakaways and great saves, culminating with a win by the speedy youngsters who have captured the hearts of fans in Toronto. The energy in the building and the passion of the fans and the players. “It was a lot of fun”. Henrik Lundqvist was outstanding after the first period.
“We’re hoping for the Finns”, MacKinnon said.
“I thought that we could be risky”.
“Honestly when I scored I thought we were in”, MacKinnon said. If we lost we’re out so we gave ourselves a chance. “It’s going to be very stressful tomorrow”.
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Tonight, Team North America enters a must-win situation against one of the top teams in their crop. (Locker rooms are not open to the media and Eichel was not brought to an interview area).
