The preliminary round is over and the single-elimination playoffs have begun. Two of the five remaining Canucks were knocked out of the World Championship on Thursday, and only one of the remaining Canucks will actually be playing.
Finland 5 - 1 Denmark
Denmark faced a nearly insurmountable task in their quarterfinal matchup: defeat the undefeated. Finland had a dominant preliminary round in Group B, even shutting out Canada 4-0, while Denmark barely made it into fourth in Group A.
That said, Denmark did beat the top team in their group, the Czech Republic, a big upset that was the biggest reason they qualified for the quarterfinals.
Hansen and his linemates were easily Denmark’s best line, but were shut down at even strength by Finland’s smothering defensive play. Denmark managed just 17 shots on goal, with the first line providing just five of them.
Hansen had two of Finland’s best chances, but couldn’t beat Mikko Koskanen in the first period and rang a shot off the post in the third.
The game was actually much closer than the 5-1 score would indicate, as a power play goal by Lars Eller, with Hansen as the net-front presence, got Denmark within one goal midway through the second period. With one of Finland’s goals coming on a lucky bounce off a Danish skate, it really seemed like Denmark had a chance.
But a late second period goal Patrik Laine and a couple meaningless goals in the final minutes of the third, including an empty netter, reestablished Finland’s bona fides. Finland will face a refreshed Russian side boosted by the addition of Alex Ovechkin mid-tournament.
As for Denmark, making the quarterfinals was an excellent result for them and Jannik Hansen was clearly one of their best players.
Czech Republic 1 - 2 USA
No Canucks in this game, as Thatcher Demko once again watched this game from the press box. USA head coach John Hynes went with Keith Kinkaid, who he coaches with the New Jersey Devils, despite him having one of the worst save percentages in the preliminary round.
Surprisingly, Kinkaid rewarded the faith of his coach, coming up with an outstanding performance, making 31 saves on 32 shots, then stopping all three Czech shootout attempts to secure the victory. The only goal he gave up was on a penalty shot. The absolute last thing I expected was for goaltending to be USA’s strength in the quarterfinals, but here we are.
Auston Matthews scored the lone USA goal, then scored the lone shootout goal as well. The US will now take on Canada in the semifinals. Oh, spoiler warning: Canada won their quarterfinal game.
Canada 6 - 0 Sweden
At least one Canuck would be going home after this game: it turned out to be Jacob Markstrom, who was in net for all six Canadian goals in a 6-0 blowout. Honestly, he didn’t play that poorly, with Canadian goals coming off turnovers, odd-man rushes, and screened shots.
Still, this wasn’t the best tournament for Markstrom, who finishes with an ugly .896 save percentage. His best moment in this game came on Connor McDavid, as he slid out of his net initially looking for a pokecheck, then slid down into his butterfly, wiping out McDavid and sending him head-over-heels into the net.
As for Tanev, he had no points and just one shot on goal, but was a defensive stalwart. When Canada took two quick penalties early in the third period and Markstrom went to the bench to give Sweden nearly two minutes at 6-on-3, Tanev played for nearly the entire penalty kill, even staying on the ice when Cam Talbot held onto a puck for a faceoff. Tanev blocked two shots on that penalty kill alone
The closest Tanev came to picking up a point was when Tanev charged towards the net int he first period and shoveled in a rebound. Only, the rebound came from within the net after Mark Scheifele opened the scoring. Still, he was there.
Ben Hutton, on the other hand, wasn’t there. He’ll likely be a healthy scratch for the rest of the tournament.
Russia 4 - 1 Germany
No Canucks content here, but we’re into the playoff round, where there are fewer games, so we may as well cover them all.
Germany caught Russia off guard early, creating a couple quick chances before the veteran Patrick Reimer fired a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky. Thomas Greiss made 13 saves, including an outstanding glove save on a backdoor one-timer on a Russian power play, giving Germany a surprise 1-0 lead coming out of the first period.
In the end, though, Russia was just too tough to handle, scoring four unanswered goals and allowing just five shots in the third period. Star KHL forward Vadim Shipachev, who is rumoured to be heading to the NHL, possibly to the Montreal Canadiens, scored two of those goals and added an assist.
The question now is if Russia can slow down the seemingly unstoppable Finns.
