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.
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McLellan pulled Matt Murray in favour of John Gibson with 4:17 remaining in the period after the four-goal Russian Federation sure. McLellan said it was a “maintenance day” and expects him to play against Sweden, but if he can’t then North America would have to dress 13 forwards and five defensemen. Ovechkin attempted one such rush by trying to stickhandle his way around several opposition players, but Auston Matthews easily dispossessed him of the puck, and regrouped for a rush up ice. Except now he’s in the KHL and he’s 38, and Connor McDavid is 19 and skates like it. And Bobrovsky had to make several good saves while Russian Federation killed off a penalty as the period ended. Despite looking a bit shaky and giving up some unnecessary rebounds, Matt Murray was able to turn the chances aside while his skaters recovered. “[North America] can play with the puck, we know that”.
TORONTO – Jacob Markstrom showed up to the Air Canada Centre on Sunday think that he was backing up star goalie Henrik Lundqvist in Sweden’s World Cup of Hockey opener against Russian Federation.
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.
The Eskimos, falling to 5-7 on the season, got their lone TD from Nate Coehoorn on a 72-yard pass-and-run play with Mike Reilly. All alone, the 2013 No. 1 pick beat Lundqvist top shelf like he has been doing that to goalies for decades. Within a few minutes, Kuznetsov’s goal flying down the right wing and Tarasenko’s from the left faceoff circle made it 4-1 and ended Murray’s night.
There was so much griping about Team North America before the tournament and I didn’t love the idea either, but that game made it all seem worth it.
Rielly came close midway through the period, firing a low shot that Bobrovsky managed to trap between his pads. “Same with Sweden. But they can’t play without the puck”. Only Valtteri Filppula’s late third period goal kept Finland from getting shutout.
The Russians, coming off an emotional 2-1 loss to Sweden in their first game, which included an overturned last-second potentially tying goal, looked lost for most of the first half of Monday’s game. Ultimately, the opportunity was cut short by a too-many-men penalty as the team tried to keep the attack going. Eichel also took a pair of crunching hits, one from behind by Alexey Marchenko and the other a stiff one up high from Montreal’s Alexei Emelin.
Sweden eventually got a handle on North America’s blazing speed, which made the best defense in the tournament look pedestrian. But they still believed a comeback was possible.
Each team now has one goal and one loss, and are still in the hunt for a spot in the semi-finals. The Canucks’ general manager was instrumental in the drafting of the American netminder (almost two decades ago in Buffalo), and one of Benning’s first moves in Vancouver was to sign Miller to a three-year, $18 million deal. “I don’t know who came up with it, but whoever did should get a ton of credit”.
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Most assumed he was referring to Team Canada.
