Everything the 23-and-under Team North America does is over the top, most importantly the skill that has made it the focus of the World Cup.
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North America have been the darlings leading up to this World Cup as they possess a number of electric youngsters that play key roles on their respective National Hockey League clubs and they didn’t disappoint in their tournament opener with a 4-1 win against Finland. Then in the second period Russian Federation started to dictate the game with four goals in between the 9:29 mark and the 15:43 mark to put the score at 4-1.
And while Team North America had a particularly strong third period in which had a 19-4 bulge on the shot clock, it couldn’t overcome going haywire in the middle of the second period. After just the first game, it’s fair to declare that including Team North America was a brilliant stroke that gives this tournament an edge. Finland will have to lick it’s wounds and regroup against Sweden on Tuesday, meanwhile North America gets to try to do the same thing they just did to Russian Federation tonight at 8pm.
Auston Matthews scored his first goal at Air Canada Centre in a losing cause as Russian Federation kept its World Cup of Hockey hopes alive with a wild 4-3 victory over Team North America on Monday night.
Winnipeg Jet Jacob Trouba dressed in place of the Florida Panther.
It nearly got worse for Finland as the North Americans nearly got a goal from Nathan MacKinnon, but it would be called back as apparently a puck clearly crossing the line doesn’t really count as a goal. still 1-0.
If he’s out, it’s a pretty sizable loss for this team as they won’t easily replace his minutes and they’re down to six defensemen, which limits roster flexibility. The NHL said the Team North America merchandise is selling behind only Team Canada in the venue’s gift shop.
“(We) wanted to make sure their transition game didn’t happen so quickly”, Gronberg said.
Murray was the clear #1 goalie heading into the tournament for North America, but Gibson’s solid play in the 3rd could make it a slightly hard decision for Todd McLellan. Ovechkin tipped a puck past Markstrom and the game ended 2-1 in favor of Sweden. Now that the pressure’s on, McDavid could be even better and produce more offense.
Added goaltender Matt Murray: “He’s a great player”.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins cut the lead to 4-3 at 3:01 of the third, banging in a mid-air puck during a goal-mouth scramble on the power play.
“I think for the most part we didn’t want to turn it into a track meet and we did that for about 10 minutes and it cost us the game probably”, said McDavid. “We definitely let the team down there”. Not only did he establish himself as a force to be reckoned with his physical play, but he showed just how dominant he can be by seeming to occupy the entire length of the ice throughout his shifts.
Goaltending can be the single biggest difference for a team in these short tournaments and was it ever for Russia Monday night.
The game started easy enough, both teams attempting to find their rhythm as they both attempted to open the scoring. If we dont, we feel good about the group that we have..
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“That’s hockey, that’s life”, said Matthews. Bobrovsky, playing in his second game in as many days, made 43 saves including 18 in the third period to help Russian Federation secure the much-needed victory.
