It was the second time in two days the Canadians used a friendly bounce to their advantage, as a Matt Duchene netted a goal after a carom off the end boards in Canada’s 4-2 win over Team USA.
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There was a lot to discuss.
John Tortorella, whose decisions have been second-guessed since he was named coach – another move that was criticized – tried unsuccessfully to challenge Perry’s goal for goaltender interference. Too much grit? Not enough skill?
In the aftermath of a dominant, clinical performance by the tournament favorite, and a lackluster showing by the US, top players were shell-shocked by the early exit. It is time to stop pretending that the answer to narrowing a talent gap is to value a metric wholly separate from goalscoring.
David Backes said that the remarks were a little distasteful and aggravating and Derek Stepan said that he hopes Kessel wasn’t attacking or disrespecting anyone.
“It’s a tough game to play”, Crawford said.
In building this roster, Dean Lombardi and the USA Hockey brain trust chased a narrative that has grown larger than the actual on-ice product that won the tournament, just as the narrative has with the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” team.
They didn’t extend invites to Tyler Johnson, Phil Kessel, Kyle Okposo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Justin Faulk.
Minutes after the game went final, Kessel tweeted: “Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog”. “Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn’t put my finger on it”.
US management doubled down on the sandpaper style that nearly resulted in a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics but hasn’t worked since.
“To come here and flop like we did is extremely disappointing”, defenseman Ryan Suter said. He gave up five goals in two games of pretournament action before surrendering four against the North Americans, which led to Tuukka Rask getting the nod in Game 2 against the Swedes.
The win gives Canada a 3-0 record and first place in Group A. It will now play either North America or Russian Federation on Saturday night. Speed has been king at this global tournament, but Backes noted that the Americans “weren’t going to out-skill Canada”.
Team USA general Manager Dean Lombardi said he simply wished he had more time with his 23-man roster to build the chemistry of a victor. When any team plays in this kind of circumstance it is hard to come out, but it is even harder when you are playing against the most dominant team in the world of hockey. Leaving more skilled players at home proved detrimental.
This performance, coupled with Ghost’s sparkling rookie season past year with the Philadelphia Flyers, should put him in the middle of the Team USA reboot.
Just 1:43 after the US had a lead, Canada came back 2-1 – and they weren’t done yet. Not only could the Americans not beat the tournament favorite but they weren’t able to knock them around, either.
“On the defensive side of things, we’re going to have to make sure we’re ready for whoever we face”, Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby said. “We didn’t show up for him”.
Tortorella was not made available to reporters on Wednesday.
Once Toews scored his second goal of the game – on a two-on-one against a sprawling Roman Josi whose stick broke way back at the other blue line – it was basically over.
“In these tournaments one day you feel like everything is going great and the next day you’re reeling”, added head coach Mike Babcock.
“You guys have grinded us about Phil. Phil looks just fine as far as the way you have talked about us not picking him”.
Lombardi and other executives will take heat for the World Cup debacle, though it might lead to philosophical changes about how to beat Canada and win elite tournaments.
Canada improved to 3-0 and will meet either Russian Federation or North American in the semifinals on Saturday evening.
“There is definitely a fantastic future coming here”, Tortorella said Tuesday night.
“I think we let some people down”.
Team Canada has now won 13 straight “best-on-best” games in worldwide competition and Toews has been with all those groups. That was how things played out at the 2014 Olympics, Canada shutting out Sweden in the gold-medal game. “Probably wasn’t our best game really”. “We’re progressing in the right direction and we know that we have a confident group if we play the way we know we can”.
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