Team North America, comprised of the best 23-and-under players from the USA and Canada, defeated Finland 4-1 Sunday in its World Cup opener at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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While we all sit back and wait for the action to get started, let’s take a closer look at all the information fans will need to make sure they don’t miss a single moment of the action between Team Russia and Team North America tonight from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Team North America will get right back at it with a game against Russian Federation at 8 p.m. on ESPN2.
This is where Sweden chose to remind Russian Federation that if you don’t use that high powered offense, they can conjure up goals in convincing and slick fashion. Benjamin Franklin said this and they are words to.
“You look around the room and everyone can feel good about it”, McDavid said, explaining where the collective confidence came from even before the North Americans had earned their first win.
Leafs forward Leo Komarov and 2016 second overall pick Patrik Laine attempted to step up the hitting with runs at Aaron Ekblad and Dylan Larkin, but the North Americans were unphased and continued to play a sound two-way game that limited the Finns ability to stage a comeback.
Ovechkin also thought he had the game-tying goal with 8.2 seconds remaining in the third period, but officials ruled it no goal because he batted the puck into the net with his glove. Matt Murray made 18 saves for North America.
When asked about this possibility, McDavid provided a great glimpse into the mentality of the young skill player. Matthews had only to get his stick on the ice to redirect it into the open goal at 5:15.
The normally restrained Matthews, who turned 19 on Saturday, permitted himself a smile after scoring. “We got to see a little bit of him last season, and I know we’re going to see a lot more of him this year”. Bobrovsky would definitely like it back, but Sweden’s continued pressure made it hard to say whether or not he’d have actually been able to keep it back. Less than 2 minutes later, Hedman one-timed Carl Hagelin’s feed glove-side past Bobrovsky. Evgeni Kuznetsov made it 3-1 when he beat Morgan Rielly to the outside and then took a shot which squeaked through Murray’s arm. He celebrated with a bird-like arm-flapping move before chirping the North American bench. Rielly corralled a blocked shot and rifled a wrist shot past the glove of Bobrovsky at 17:56 to make it 4-2. Ekblad sat out North America’s 4-3 loss to Russian Federation on Monday night.
Matthews tied for the team lead with five shots and finished with just over 14 minutes of ice time.
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Florida Panthers general manager Tom Rowe told reporters that Ekblad was concussed. “He’ll be better the next game”, he said.
