Sidney Crosby set up a pair and scored one himself.
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“Being part of a group like this at this level’s been special”.
The victory puts Canada in the tournament final, which begins Tuesday, where they will play either Sweden or Team Europe, who meet in the second semi-final Sunday afternoon at the Air Canada Centre. It was the best game of the tournament for that line. They outshot Russian Federation 47-34, sustaining control of the puck for long, heavy stints in the offensive zone.
Krueger began to sense something special was in store for Team Europe almost a year ago when several candidates to be on the team met when Boston and the New York Islanders played.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for Canada (4-0).
Crosby has picked up right where he left off in the Stanley Cup playoffs, where he won the Conn Smythe, and is now two wins away from another championship. A couple dekes later and Crosby stuffed a backhand past an over-committed Bobrovsky.
“Age catches up to all of us”, Babcock said.
“It’s just an expectation to win”, forward Logan Couture said of Canada’s ability to perform on the big stage.
If appearing a touch tight early, Canada mostly controlled a penalty-filled first.
Despite 11 of Canada’s 13 forwards being recognised centers for their National Hockey League teams, the likes of Logan Couture, Claude Giroux, Matt Duchene and Steven Stamkos – among others – have had their skills utilised on the wings, making for a fluid, powerful attack.
Russian Federation managed only one shot on a pair of power plays, with the Canadians actually coming up with the best opportunities shorthanded, including a pair with Brent Burns in the box for tripping.
He had turned in the finest goaltending display in the tournament. A veteran team many pundits picked to finish last, they beat the United States of America 3-0 in their opener, before beating the Czechs in overtime to lock up the number-two spot in Pool A. Even though Europe has emerged as a contender with an experienced squad, they lack the mobile, elite, puck-moving blueline that they would need to defeat the Swedes.
Bobrovsky proved a difference-maker early and often. Eight minutes later, Russian Federation had a 2-1 lead. None of Russia’s extra-man chances were as good as any of those three shorthanded bids from Canada.
Marchand gave Canada some breathing room 76 seconds into the third period when he took a pass from Crosby and beat Bobrovsky on the glove side for his second goal of the game. The Tampa Bay Lightning winger grabbed hold of a clearing attempt by defenceman Nikita Zaitsev and raced in for a two-on-one rush with Vladislav Namestnikov.
It took 41 minutes and 16 seconds for any doubt of such a result to be removed in a semifinal matchup with Russian Federation on Saturday night.
Team USA found their scoring success against Canada – the opening goal of the game – through Ryan McDonagh colliding with Vlasic in-front of Price, and then tapping in the puck. But their first shot of the period came 10 minutes in on a two-on-one, and while Nikita Kucherov’s shot was handsome, a big contributing factor to that goal had to be Carey Price’s long period of inactivity.
Bobrovsky stood with his arm resting on the crossbar after the goal as the Canadians celebrated. One team will head on to the finals to face Team Canada.
Canada has outscored opponents, 14-3, in its three games.
The tension was short-lived.
But Bobrovsky had no chance on a Brad Marchand one-timer that pulled Canada even. Again it was Crosby keying the action.
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“It was big just because we felt like we were controlling the play and doing a lot of good things and we were down 2-1”, Crosby said about Marchand’s tying goal. “When things don’t go well he doesn’t get frustrated. But anything can happen sometimes, so it was nice to get that”.
