Crosby leads the tournament in scoring, now with nine points.
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Fresh off signing an eight-year, $49 million contract extension with the Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand continued his strong play in the World Cup of Hockey for Team Canada.
As much fun as it was to see Team Europe upset the Americans or for Team North America to skate circles around Finland, no one really wanted to see either team make it all the way to the final.
“It was a nice surprise”, Kopitar said, when asked about Gretzky’s note. Getzlaf continued on toward the net as Team Europe scrambled back into defensive position. Probably, a little of both.
“There’s nothing to lose for us”.
“We didn’t play our best hockey there’s no question about that”, Canadian forward Brad Marchand said.
Like he did six years ago Halak will have to outplay Price once more, only this time opposite a goaltender that’s on top of the sport and for a shot at the World Cup crown no less. They peppered Carey Price with shots for several minutes before he finally gave up a rebound. This time Ryan Getzlaf stripped Zdeno Chara of the puck at centre ice and went in with Steven Stamkos.
As Europe experienced in previous games in this tournament, Canada wasn’t getting many quality chances, but they were taking advantage of the mistakes and making it count on the score board. Team Europe was fast, physical and forced turnovers.
Europe played one of their best games of the tournament, but the few mistakes they did make put them in a 1-0 hole against the hosts in this best-of-three series. “For whatever reason, we weren’t as good as we think we can be”.
“This will pull us together even that much tighter, I think”.
Gaborik scored his second goal in four World Cup games against the Swedes, helping Team Europe advance to the finals. Crosby fed Bergeron with a nice pass up the middle, and Bergeron went in on goal with Marchand on a 2-on-1. Watching him play in this tournament is like watching a coaching video on how to play the game the right way. Not that many rinks (about 17 by the estimate of Hansen’s Danish teammate Mikkel Boedker). He also foiled defenceman Andrej Sekera on a breakaway.
“In terms of metrics, Olympic participation really hasn’t done a whole lot for the National Hockey League and for the clubs”, Daly said. The third period was better. Crosby, once again, came to the rescue, setting up Bergeron to give Canada breathing room.
The Canadians held the momentum for a shift after the goal, but Europe got back on their game and once again mounted the pressure in Canada’s end.
It was the 15th straight win for Canada in the best-on-best format, though hardly the show of superiority that was expected.
Still, of the 300 minutes for the Canadians in this tournament they have led for 258:46, been tied for 38:33 and trailed for only 2:41. When they needed a goal in the third period, a switch was flipped and they scored. “But I thought in the third period, we played better, with some goal and some determination and our style of game”. There are so many great young players today, there were great players when I played and before I played. They should. They’re the better team, even if they might have played their poorest game of the tournament Tuesday.
“Obviously we got the two points”, said head coach Mike Babcock, who was not impressed with the team’s effort or execution.
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“We’ll dial in very closely on the nuances of their team and how they do things and get our team as best prepared as we possibly can”, Babcock said.
