Today the big guns made their debuts, so lets recap what happened since you may have missed the games.
8
4
One of our favorite teams, Finland got off to a decent start by beating Austria 8-4. Michael Grabner started the scoring for the Austrians 36 seconds in. The Finns answered about five minutes later on a goal by Mikael Granlund. Austria then scored to make it 2-1 until Sami Lepisto answered for the Finns. Our favorite player, Olli Maatta blasted a shot from the point at the end of the 1st to give the Finns their first lead and then 8 seconds later, Jarkko Immonen scored to give the Finns a 4-2 lead after 1. Jussi J scored less than two minutes into the 2nd to give them a 5-2 lead and then about 10 minutes into the second, the Finns jumped to a 6-2 lead going into the 3rd. In the 3rd, Grabner scored his second of the game to cut the lead in half. With about 9 minutes to go, Immonen scored his second of the game and then Michael Grabner scored his third goal for his first career Olympic hat trick. Granlund scored his second with 90 seconds left to give Finland an 8-4 win and allowed them to jump out to an early lead in Group B.
Notes:
Teemu Selanne left the game after the 1st and did not return, Finland coach said its a small upper-body injury and he will be good to go for their next game on Saturday.
Mikael Granlund led the way for the Finns with 3 points
Michael Grabner might be a hidden gem for this Austrian team.
Next games:
Finland - Friday vs Norway
Austria - Friday vs Canada
7
1
Team USA got out to a good start against the Slovaks and maybe made a name for themselves opening pool play. One of the biggest things to take away is that the Slovaks have a good goalie in Jaroslav Halak and Team USA put 5 goals on him. John Carlson scored 14 minutes into the 1st and gave USA a 1-0 lead that they took to intermission. 24 seconds into the 2nd, Tomas Tatar put the Slovaks on the board and made it 1-1 and it looked like it was going to be a game. Ryan Kesler and Paul Stastny both scored within a minute of each other to give USA a 3-1 lead. David Backes then scored to make it 4-1 and Paul Stastny scored his second of the game to give USA a 5-1 lead and chased Jaroslav Halak. Enter Peter Budaj. Budaj saw two shots in the second, one by Phil Kessel and one by Dustin Brown. Both of them went in and gave USA a 7-1 lead. The third period was sort of a lull.
Notes:
Top line of Dustin Brown - Ryan Kesler - Patrick Kane may not be as bad as we thought.
Phil Kessel 3 point night
Jon Quick might be a good choice by Bylsma to be USA starter.
Next Game:
USA - Saturday vs Russia
Slovakia - Saturday vs Slovenia
5
2
Russia used their home crowd to fight off a scrappy Slovenian team. A minute and half in, the top line of Semin-Malkin-Ovechkin connected with Ovechkin getting his first in the tournament to give the Russians an early 1-0 lead. Malkin then scored 3 minutes later to give the Russians a 2-0 lead early and many thought the Russians would run away with this but Slovenia had other ideas and held the door throughout the period. Slovenia then scored less than two minutes into the 2nd to cut the lead to 2-1 but then Malkin set up Kovalchuk in the slot on a powerplay to give the Russians a 3-1 lead but a minute later, the Slovenians answered to make it 3-2. Four minutes into the 3rd, Valeri Nischuskin came through the zone with speed, flew around a Slovenian defender and tucked it in under the Slovenian goalie's pad to give Russia a 4-2 lead and then Anton Belov blasted a shot from the point to give Russia a 5-2 lead. Props to the Russian crowd as they were extremely loud down the stretch and didn't leave when it looked like their team was cruising to a victory.
Notes:
Evgeni Malkin continued his hot streak with a goal and two assists
Ovechkin had two points
Varlamov made 12 saves on 14 shots
Next game:
Russia - Saturday vs USA
Slovenia - Saturday vs Slovakia
3
1
Canada got off to a slow start, but they flexed their muscles to start the 2nd period and took over the game. Pretty sure Norway didn't have a single shot on goal in the 2nd. When Mats Zuccarello is your best player, you might have problems. Jamie Benn drew a penalty in the 2nd and on the delayed penalty, the puck dropped back to Shea Weber and he blasted a shot from the point, the Norway goalie had no chance. 1-0 Canada. A few minutes later, Patrice Bergeron found a wide open Jamie Benn who buried the puck. The Norwegians had a power play when the 3rd started, and some guy scored to make it 2-1. A minute later, Drew Doughty dangled through Scandinavia and made it 3-1. Norway would stick around but thats all she wrote.
Game Notes:
Stick tap to Norway, impressive performance
Crosby-Kunitz-Carter showed some promise
Kunitz was everywhere
Next Games:
Canada - Friday vs Austria
Norway - Friday vs Finland
Tables:
Group A
USA 1-0-0 3 points +6 GD
Russia 1-0-0 3 points +3 GD
Slovenia 0-1-0 0 points -3 GD
Slovakia 0-1-0 0 points -6 GD
Group B
Finland 1-0-0 3 points +4 GD
Canada 1-0-0 3 points +2 GD
Norway 0-1-0 0 points -2 GD
Austria 0-1-0 0 points -4 GD
Group C
Sweden 1-0-0 3 points +2 GD
Switzerland 1-0-0 3 points +1 GD
Latvia 0-1-0 0 points -1 GD
Czech Republic 0-1-0 0 points -2 GD
No comments:
Post a Comment