Despite staging a World Cup that features only six nations and two gimmicky teams, the National Hockey League insisted on Monday it is the most worldwide of the Big Four North American professional sports.
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Much like Team Europe, a collection of players from eight European countries, North America made a great first impression after plenty of criticism about being a gimmick.
On the other hand, the dizzyingly fun North American kids lost.
It’s the opposite for North America, which went from euphoria to uncertainty.
“I thought we were hesitant”, McLellan said. “We did what we came to do and we’re moving on to the semis”. “We definitely put them on their heels… we were flying around the ice tonight”.
Playing his first of what should be many games at his new home arena with the Toronto Maple Leafs, No. 1 pick Auston Matthews had an assist and showed he was ready to face National Hockey League competition.
North America’s Johnny Gaudreau, who has shined the entire tournament, responded by stripping Sedin of the rebound and making a spectacular pass to Nathan MacKinnon, who beat Sweden’s Henrik Lundqvist with an outrageous deke. In fact, in what might have been a case of one-upmanship, all four Russian scorers – Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko – were under 25.
Two tough teams, one known for being ludicrously score-y, one fantastic at defending.who wins?
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.
Another Maple Leaf, defenceman Nikita Zaitsev, picked up an assist and led Russian Federation in ice time at 21 minutes, 13 seconds.
Sweden, North America and Russian Federation all have a win now in Group B. Sweden takes on Finland Tuesday afternoon to try to take sole possession of first place, but the Finns will be playing with some desperation.
“That does factor into our decision”, McLellan said.
For the New York Islander Nikolai Kulemin and the Russians, this was a must win game. “I’m not going to take anything away from them, but we weren’t ready to go”. They did their job.
The four-goal outburst – really the only period of domination for the Russians all night – was clearly borne out of desperation. “That was on me”. “When you play with a guy for six years, you get close”. You have to learn on the fly a little bit..
And at least part of the criticism at the time is valid: Team USA is weaker than it could be because some top talent is playing for Team North America.
Rielly had a goal late in the second, led all players with seven shots, and topped all players in time on ice at 23:07.
Ekblad, 20, was run into the glass by Leo Komarov during the Team North America match up with Team Finland.
In his place, however, they’ll dress Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba.
With less than three minutes to play, McDavid had a look at an open net from the side of the post but just hopped it through the crease.
“You can’t ask for any more of him”.
The crowd roared when Matthews was introduced before the game. “He was very happy afterwards”. “I don’t think we got pushed out of the game at all”. “We were down 4-1 and we never gave up”. Everybody was staying positive. “We need to do what the coach says, and take more shots”. We got back to our game plan, got back to utilizing our skill sets, our strength and speed. I’m not going to throw any predictions out there but I think it’s going to be a better season.
“Obviously we knew what we had to do and the point sealed the first spot in the group”, he said. “Every (coach or GM working) in the tournament is the same – we know who pays us and where our bread is buttered”.
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Once North America got its composure and the puck back, it continued to bombard Bobrovsky with shots.
