A lot has happened since our last World Championship update: the preliminary round is over and the top four teams from each group are moving on to the playoff round, with five Canucks still in the tournament. We’ll get into the games over the last few days, but here’s the quick version:
In Group A, two Canucks got eliminated, both pending UFAs: Yannick Weber for Switzerland and Ronalds Kenins for Latvia. Switzerland got eliminated when Denmark upset the top of the table Czech Republic, forcing Switzerland to defeat the Czech Republic in regulation to move on.
Latvia kept themselves alive by pushing most of their losses to overtime, but they weren’t able to put together enough wins to challenge Denmark and Switzerland ahead of them. Meanwhile, Jacob Markstrom and Sweden finished comfortably in third.
Over in Group B, Canada’s undefeated run was stopped short by Finland with what could be a wakeup call heading into the quarterfinals. Chris Tanev continues to play a vital role, while Ben Hutton hit the press box as Ryan Ellis joined Team Canada.
Meanwhile, Thatcher Demko has yet to make an appearance, despite the two other goaltenders for the US seriously struggling. Because of their lousy goaltending, Team USA was on the verge of failing to qualify for the quarterfinals, but they lost their way into the next round by getting their final game to overtime.
That’s five Canucks still in the World Championship, though only three may actually play in therquarterfinals. Let’s take a closer look at the last few days to see how they got there.
Sunday, May 15th
Denmark 2 - 1 Czech Republic
This was a massive victory for Denmark, putting them in great position to qualify for the quarterfinals ahead of Switzerland. It was an unexpected win as well, as the Czech Republic have been very strong in this tournament and finished at the top of Group A.
Danish goaltender Sebastian Dahm was outstanding, finishing with 40 saves on 41 shots. His first period glove save on Tomas Plekanec was one of the best saves of the tournament thus far.
As for Canucks content, Jannik Hansen was stoned early in the first period on a point blank chance and added two more shots in his team-leading 21:46 of ice time. He was partly at fault for the Czech Republic’s lone goal, as he was too far away from his check, Tomas Plekanec, when the puck ricocheted off the post and directly out to him.
That said, it’s hard to blame Hansen too much for that goal and he and his line provided much of the offensive spark for Denmark, with 10 of Denmark’s 21 shots on goal.
It was the second line that tied things up, however, striking on the power play midway through the third period when Frederik Storm redirected a hard pass from Nicklas Jensen on net and Morten Madsen cleaned up the rebound.
That led to the shootout, where all three Danish shooters scored, with Nicklas Jensen sealing the victory with a slick backhand-forehand move to evade the pokecheck.
Germany 3 - 2 USA
Nope, still no Thatcher Demko, not even on the bench. But USA coach John Hynes had to be getting a little bit worried about his goaltending at this point. Mike Condon gave up three goals on just 14 shots in this game, including the gamewinner on a long wristshot with just 33 seconds remaining, allowing Germany to pass Team USA in the standings and secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
The loss left Team USA in an awkward spot, just three points up on Slovakia, who they would face in their final game of the round robin. A regulation win for Slovakia would earn them three points, tying with the US, with head-to-head results acting as the first tiebreaker.
A regulation loss to Slovakia and Team USA would be heading home, a disastrous result after medalling in two of the last three tournaments.
Switzerland 2 - 3 Sweden
With Denmark setting the bar with an upset win over the Czech Republic, Switzerland nearly pulled off an upset of their own, taking Sweden to a shootout. They fell just short, but the single point they earned in the process kept them alive. Just three points behind Denmark and with the tiebreaker in their favour, they needed a regulation win over the Czech Republic in their final game to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Though he didn’t factor into the scoring, Yannick Weber was a horse against Sweden, finishing with 25:01 in ice time, second only to his defence partner Eric Blum, and firing three shots on goal.
As for Jacob Markstrom, he was solid in net, with the two goals against largely out of his control. Sven Andrighetto’s opening goal was a bullet of a wrist shot from the high slot that went just under the bar and the second Swiss goal came on a redirect in front. He then stopped three of four in the shootout to earn the win.
Monday, May 16th
Canada 4 - 0 France
Canada continued their roll with an easy shutout win over France. They weren’t the only undefeated team, however with Finland also winning all six of their games in regulation, tying them at 18 points each at the top of Group B heading into their meeting on the final day of the preliminary round.
Chris Tanev played 15:12 against France, with head coach Bill Peters spreading the ice time around. He had three shots on goal, as Canada out shot France 46-13.
Tanev wasn’t on the ice for any of Canada’s goals, but he was nearly on the ice for a goal against, as France got an early breakaway when Damien Fleury snuck in behind Tanev’s defence partner, Morgan Reilly. Fortunately, he hit the post.
Ben Hutton didn’t play in this game and his tournament might be done as Ryan Ellis joined Team Canada with the Nashville Predators knocked out of the playoffs. Ellis led Canada in ice time in his first game of the tournament.
This has still likely been a fantastic experience for Hutton, even if his ice time was limited in his national team debut.
Denmark 4 - 1 Kazakhstan
Denmark did what they could to ensure a spot in the quarterfinals, winning their final game of the round robin in regulation, earning the full three points to put the pressure on Switzerland.
Jannik Hansen scored his second goal of the tournament, which stood up as the gamewinner. On the power play, Hansen was allowed to walk into the left faceoff dot and fired a wristshot that squeaked under Dmitri Malgin’s arm and across the goal line.
He added an assist on the opening goal when he dug a puck out of a faceoff scrum, giving him 4 points in 7 games in the preliminary round.
Hansen was also on the ice for the lone Kazakh goal, as he ended up chasing Nigel Dawes on a breakaway after a bad change. That goal had more to do with Denmark’s defencemen being out of position after a terrible line change than a lapse by Hansen.
He was also the net front presence for Ehlers’ 4-1 goal, meaning he was on the ice for three of Denmark’s four goals. But, since all of Denmark’s goals came on the power play, Hansen ended up minus-1 on the night. Plus/minus is a dumb stat, you guys.
Tuesday, May 17th
Czech Republic 5 - 4 Switzerland
The Swiss needed a regulation win over the Czech Republic and threw everything they could at the Czechs in the third period, pulling their goaltender early and scoring two goals with their own net empty. Unfortunately, they needed three goals and the Czech Republic added an empty net goal to win in regulation.
Switzerland can look back at tournament-opening losses to Kazakhstan and Norway as the reason for elimination, as well as a hard-fought win by Denmark over the Czech Republic to put the pressure on for the final day of the tournament.
The Swiss spread ice time evenly between their top 5 defencemen, with Yannick Weber playing 17:21. He finished with just one shot in a game when they desperately needed some extra offence.
While he was on the ice for two goals against, one came while he was killing a penalty and the other was the empty net goal. Weber finishes his tournament with a goal and two assists.
USA 2 - 3 Slovakia
Slovakia needed the regulation win and nearly pulled it off, pulling their goaltender with a minute left and the game tied, but couldn’t get the extra goal they needed. Slovakia won in overtime, but earned only two points, with the US getting one.
You can blame Team USA’s goaltending for how close they came to getting eliminated.
Mike Condon currently has an .885 save percentage. His backup, Keith Kinkaid has an .873 save percentage after 27 saves on 30 shots against Slovakia. At this point, if I were John Hynes, I would have no faith in either goaltender, but the issue is that Thatcher Demko hasn’t played a single minute in this tournament. He’s completely untested heading into the quarterfinals.
Still, I’d much rather have Demko in net than Condon or Kinkaid. We’ll see if Hynes agrees. An elimination game would be a tough debut for Demko.
Latvia 1 - 3 Norway
Thanks to their win over Kazakhstan, Latvia wasn’t in danger of relegation heading into their final game against Norway. Good thing, as Norway played very well to finish their tournament, taking a two-goal lead with two goals in 16 seconds in the first minute of the second period, then shutting the door from there.
Ronalds Kenins led Latvia with four shots on goal, but couldn’t find the back of the net. He finished the tournament with just one goal, though he had 13 shots in his six games.
Russia 4 - 1 Sweden
The host Russians finished their preliminary round strong, scoring four unanswered goals in the first two periods before Sweden finally tallied one of their own in the third.
Jacob Markstrom was in net for Sweden and finished with 36 saves on 40 shots. He wasn’t at his best, sometimes swimming around his crease instead of staying back where he tends to play when he’s most comfortable. Still, Russia’s goals largely came off cross-ice passes, giving Markstrom little chance to make the saves.
Markstrom looked at his worst on the first Russian goal, as it came on a fanned shot that dribbled past Markstrom as he stretched across looking for the shot up high. When Markstrom is at the top of his game, he makes that save and likely at least one of the other three goals, but he certainly wasn't to blame for Sweden's loss.
Canada 0 - 4 Finland
With Ben Hutton, Team Canada is an unstoppable behemoth. Without Hutton, they’re a .500 club. Clearly the key is Hutton. Get him back in the lineup!
Finland is having an outstanding tournament and are looking to pull off the triple-gold: U-18, World Junior, and World Championship gold medals in one year. By shutting out Canada 4-0, they established themselves as the team to beat heading into the playoff round.
Part of the issue was goaltending for Canada: Cam Talbot had his worst game of the tournament, giving up bad goals and bad rebounds, finishing with just 15 saves on 19 shots.
Chris Tanev, at least, wasn’t on the ice for any goals against and you have to think they need to get him on the ice more in the playoff round, as he played just 17:10. Ryan Ellis and Ryan Murray both played more and ended up on the ice for two Finnish goals. Cody Ceci and Michael Matheson were the defencemen on the ice for the other two.
There’s a strong chance that this was a preview of the gold medal game, as Finland and Canada will now be on opposite sides of the table in the playoff round. Finland finishes on top of Group B and will face Denmark. Canada will take on Sweden, Russia will play Germany, and USA faces the first place team in Group A, the Czech Republic.
