Jack Eichel buried the rebound for a 1-0 lead at 5:03 of the first period.
Advertisement
North America’s penalty kill worked like a charm and gave Murray a break, but the dam burst at even strength midway through the second period when Jones missed his whack at a loose puck. They out-shot Russian Federation 19-4 in the closing 20 minutes, but all they could get past Sergei Bobrovsky was a power-play goal by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins despite the relentless attack.
Vladislav Namestnikov and Nikita Kucherov scored 50 seconds apart for Russian Federation after Matthews put the North America young guns ahead in the first period.
Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad sat out Team North America’s 4-3 loss to Russian Federation last night at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko scored on consecutive shots during a 6:14 stretch, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 42 saves on 45 shots to hand the 23-and-under mix of American and Canadian players its first loss of the tournament.
“We just lost our way for 10 minutes”, McLellan said.
Sometimes the pace was so quick that Gaudreau said players stood up on the bench in anticipation of the next fancy move. “As soon as we opened it up and allowed them to use their speed, that’s where you saw them kind of take over the game”.
“I thought we looked unsure out there for the first time as a team. Slow reading, slow reacting and slow to the scoreboard”.
Team North America’s Morgan Rielly stopped the bleeding with a goal to pull the 23-year-old and under squad to within 4-2 heading into the third.
Goaltending can be the single biggest difference for a team in these short tournaments and was it ever for Russia Monday night. Murray, who jammed his thumb during the game, faced 19 shots on the night. The young star seems to embrace the moment but the team has been careful to not put too much on his shoulders alone.
“It was pretty special”, said Matthews.
“The whole team has to be prepared to play more minutes, and rise to the challenge and take care of each other defensively”, Rielly said.
In other Group B play, Sweden (1-0-0) plays Finland (0-1-0) on Tuesday.
“Obviously we knew we can’t lose the game”, captain Alex Ovechkin said.
“It ultimately cost us the game”. Matthews also had a second assist reversed after Connor McDavid’s goal was called back due to goaltender interference by Mark Scheifele on the play. “You can see everybody sacrificing, and we get the result”. North America’s apt goal song, “Opposite of Adults” blared on the Air Canada Centre speakers all night.
McDavid was frustrated by his inability to convert on that chance and by his team’s failed power play.
“We definitely let the team down there”, McDavid said. Johnny Gaudreau just missed an open net from the edge of the crease and Shayne Gostisbehere clanked a drive off the goalpost as Russian Federation survived a game in which it was outshot, 46-25.
Media reports said that Ekblad was concussed, but Chiarelli and North America head coach Todd McLellan both insist that’s not the case. “I think we’re a fast, speed, skilled team and hopefully we can keep proving people we belong here”.
Advertisement
The Florida Panthers aren’t taking any risks with franchise defenseman Aaron Ekblad. North America’s defense had to fill several minutes with Aaron Ekblad out with an upper-body injury, replaced by Jacob Trouba.
