The World Championships move quickly, with little rest time between games. That also means little rest time for blogging about those games. Let’s catch up with the weekend’s (and Monday's) games from a Canucks perspective.
Saturday, May 7th
Switzerland 2 - 3 Kazakhstan
Switzerland was stunned in their first game by Kazakhstan, losing 3-2 in a shootout. Kazakhstan was led by a trio of former NHLers in Nigel Dawes, Brandon Bochenski, and Dustin Boyd, who are not, as you might guess, from Kazakhstan. The transplanted North Americans each played well over 20 minutes, with Dawes scoring twice in the shootout to secure the win.
The lone Canuck in the game, Yannick Weber, led the Swiss in ice time with 22 minutes and played a decent game overall. The Swiss out-shot Kazakhstan 51-27, with Weber providing 4 of those shots. He got in trouble in the first period, however, giving Dawes a penalty shot, but unlike in the shootout, he couldn’t score.
Honestly, the Swiss were incredibly unfortunate not to win. Vitali Kolesnik made 49 saves and one of the Kazakh goals was scored from their own blue line on Reto Berra.
Denmark 3 - 0 Norway
Denmark got their tournament off to a good start with a win over Norway on Saturday. Jannik Hansen, playing on the top line with Lars Eller and Nikolah Ehlers, played a decent game, finishing with 2 shots in just over 17 minutes of ice time. He provided the net-front presence on Denmark’s second goal.
But it was former Canuck Nicklas Jensen that provided the offensive spark. He fired a game-high 7 shots on goal and opened the scoring with a lovely move after the awesomely-named Frederik Storm found him alone behind the defence. Jensen then iced the game late with an empty net goal to secure the 3-0 win.
Sebastian Dahm was superb in the Danish net, making 44 saves for the shutout, including one after his mask had fallen off. It was an outstanding display of goaltending, but Denmark has to be worried about giving up 44 shots to Norway, with plenty of tougher opponents ahead. You have to wonder if the first line will get more ice time against those opponents.
Latvia 3 - 4 Czech Republic
Latvia once again nearly stunned a top team after narrowly losing to Sweden in overtime on Friday. Latvia took the lead with just over two minutes left, but the Czechs tied it up in the final minute to force overtime, eventually winning in the shootout.
By that time, however, Ronalds Kenins was gone. He got tossed in the second period for an ugly hit to the head on Tomas Kundratek.
Ronalds Kenins får matchstraff för den här tacklingen. Hör @SannyLindstrom:s och @wikegard:s analys av situationen https://t.co/MSrua0Fcrj
— TV4 Sport (@TV4Sport) May 7, 2016
This was everything you don’t want to see in a hit: late, from behind, to the head, into the boards. Surprisingly, he only received a one-game suspension, sitting out Sunday’s 4-0 loss to Russia.
Sunday, May 8th
Hungary 1 - 7 Canada
In a disastrous effort on Sunday, Canada gave up a goal to Hungary.
Okay, that’s not fair to either Canada or Hungary. Canada dominated from start to finish and demonstrated a balanced attack, with all 7 goals coming from different skaters.
Chris Tanev was named the Best Player for Canada and was praised for his calming influence on Canada’s young defence. Both he and Ben Hutton picked up their first international points, both assists.
Tanev’s assist on the fifth goal was a beauty, finding Derick Brassard at the backdoor past two Hungarian players. Hutton’s was a little more incidental, moving the puck along to Mike Matheson, who scored past a screened Adam Vay.
Even with the Best Player nod, Tanev hasn't had a lot of ice time so far in the tournament, though coach Bill Peters suggests that will change, likely when they play in some closer games: "I think he's been a stabilizing force for us and someone that we might be able to use in even more situations than we have up to this point in the tournament."
Norway 4 - 3 Switzerland
The Swiss are in trouble. On the weekend, they lost to what were supposed to be the easiest opponents in their group, first Kazakhstan and then Norway. Switzerland needed two goals in the third period to force overtime, but when Yannick Weber took a penalty in the extra frame, Norway took advantage.
Weber did pick up his first point of the tournament, an assist on the opening goal, but the costly overtime penalty is what sticks out the most. Switzerland is now in real trouble, as they still have games against Russia, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, along with potentially tough games agaisnt Denmark and Latvia.
Sweden 5 - 2 Denmark
Denmark took the lead in the first period, but 4 unanswered goals in the second period gave Sweden the win. Sweden got another midway through the third, then Denmark made themselves feel a little better with a goal in the final minute.
Hansen was on the ice for the opening goal, a power play tally, and wasn’t on the ice for a single Swedish goal. He had a fine game, but you would hope to see a little more from him offensively after his breakout season with the Sedins. But, y’know, he’s not playing with the Sedins…
He had 3 shots in 18:28 of ice time. The other Canuck in this game, Jakob Markstrom, wasn’t actually in this game, as he backed up Viktor Fasth.
Monday, May 8th
Belarus 0 - 8 Canada
Cam Talbot only had to face 13 shots, as Canada dominated Belarus. Tanev played fine in his 16:30 of ice time, while Hutton was barely on the ice (he played just 6:11), but the defence really wasn’t called on to do much in this one.
Sweden 2 - 4 Czech Republic
Sweden took a two-goal lead out of the first period, but the Czechs replied with four unanswered goals to hand Sweden their first loss.
Markstrom made 29 saves, but he was not at his best. He got caught looking over the wrong shoulder on the first goal, and got beat from well out on the fourth goal. It would be hard to blame him for the second goal, however, as the puck was perfectly tipped into the top corner, and the defence let Michal Birner walk right in on the third goal.
