Game Previews: January 2, 2018
By BuffaloWorldJuniors.com Staff
Posted 1/2/18
Quarterfinals Game One: Finland vs. Czech Republic
Noon at KeyBank Center
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By Alec Gearty
Finland wasn’t able to grasp a higher seed in its group so they’ll have to face the Czech Republic in the first quarterfinal game of the 2018 World Junior Championship.
The Finns suffered a tough loss to the United States to close out the preliminary round, where after a mighty comeback, Finland became a bystander to the United States’ last minute goal. Now they must rid themselves of that loss to focus on the Czech Republic, who enters the quarterfinal round with two straight wins.
The play from the Czech Republic top line consisting of Martin Necas, Filip Zadina and Albert Michnac has been consistent throughout the tournament and remains a significant factor for their team’s success. Finishing the preliminary round with a combined 12 points — Necas (2+4) Zadina (3+1) and Michnac (0+2) have been relied upon heavily to get them in the position they are in.
“Those guys scored a couple of important goals for us,” Pesan said. “I’m glad those guys are getting closer to each other.”
The Czechs have to figure out who will be their starting goaltender going forward against Finland. After making goalie changes in the past two games, Pesan said he would have to review the tape and discuss with the other coaches who will get the net. While he has an idea of who will get the cage, he’s playing it close to his chest.
“I’m pretty sure who’s gonna start for the quarterfinal but I’m going to keep it,” said Pesan.
Finland, on the other hand, will likely start Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen on Tuesday. Luukkonen’s been the steady workhorse behind the strong Finnish defense as he holds a 3.04 goals-against average, but allowed 12 goals on 72 shots.
Relegation Game One: Denmark vs. Belarus
2 p.m. at HarborCenter
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By Jeff Baker
The IIHF World Junior Championship is like any tournament. You have to be in it to win it. And while eight teams still have gold-medal dreams in 2018, two nations must show their mettle to avoid relegation.
With a spot in next year’s World Juniors on the line, Belarus and Denmark embark upon a best-of-three series, starting on Tuesday at 2 p.m at HarborCenter.
The relegation round, reserved for the bottom two teams in the standings, offers Belarus a chance at redemption following several missed opportunities in Group B’s preliminary stage.
The Belarusians hung with Sweden, the only team to go unbeaten in the round robin, for the first half of their first game until a 1-1 tie midway through the second period unraveled into a 6-1 loss.
Up 2-1 on Switzerland with less than 12 minutes left in their second game, Belarus allowed two third-period goals in a span of three minutes for a 3-2 comeback win for the Swiss.
After falling to Russia 5-2 in a rivalry matchup, Belarus bounced back with another strong effort against the Czech Republic.
Belarus took a 2-0 lead to chase the opposing goalie early in the second period, but the Czechs responded with a five-goal outburst in 14 minutes to take a 5-2 lead, ultimately holding on for a 6-5 win.
Meanwhile, Denmark enters the relegation stage with the same winless record as Belarus, but with fewer close calls in their four losses in Group A play.
The Danes got off on the wrong foot to start the event, allowing five first-period goals in a 9-0 defeat to the United States.
In their second matchup against Finland, who they beat in 2017 en route to a fifth-place finish while sending the then-defending champs to the relegation round, Denmark mustered only seven shots in a 4-1 loss.
Following an 8-0 rout by Canada, Denmark again rebounded in their next game.
They took their first lead of the tournament by going up 1-0 in the first period, but Slovakia scored five-unanswered goals for a 5-1 win.
For Belarus and Denmark, the difference between survival and relegation could be determined by how much their goaltenders have left in the tank.
Belarus netminder Andrei Grishenko had faced the most shots (137) of any goalie in the World Juniors this year, before Dimitri Rodik came on in relief during the loss to the Czech Republic.
Kasper Krog, who made a tournament-high 58 saves against Finland, has seen 125 shots, tied for second-most. Krog has played two-thirds of Denmark’s minutes, ceding some work to backup Emil Gransoe.
Offensively, Belarus has been limited to 10 goals, tied for the third-fewest of any team, while Denmark ranks last with just two tallies so far.
Both squads have struggled to get pucks to the net, as Denmark (73) and Belarus (78) are the only two teams with fewer than 100 shots on goal.
Maxim Sushko, a fourth-round pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 NHL Draft, leads Belarus in scoring with four points (1+3) while KHLer Yegor Sharangovich is first on the team with three goals.
St. Louis Blues prospect Nikolaj Krog has two points (1+1) to lead Denmark, who will be without captain Christian Mathiasen-Weise for Game 1 after the defenseman was suspended one game for a high hit delivered in the final minutes of Sunday’s loss to Slovakia.
Often the case in playoff-type games, special teams are likely to play a factor in this series as well.
Denmark has scored both of their goals on the power play, ranked seventh at 18.2 percent. Belarus has netted four of their 10 tallies with the man advantage, sporting a fourth-best conversion rate of 30.8 percent.
On the penalty kill, both teams are in the middle of the pack, with Belarus killing 78.6 percent of their infractions and Denmark right behind at 77.8 percent.
The teams have split their two all-time meetings, each time (2013 and 2014) in the World Juniors’ second-tier Division I A tournament, an event both countries are looking to avoid.
Game 2 will take place on Thursday, Jan. 4 at 12 p.m. at KeyBank Center with Game 3 (if necessary) scheduled for Friday, Jan. 5 at noon on the same ice.
Quarterfinals Game Two: Canada vs. Switzerland
4 p.m. at KeyBank Center
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By Ryan Evans
Canada’s first test in its quest for a second-straight berth in the gold medal game comes against Switzerland in the second of Thursday’s four 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship quarterfinal games.
Face off is scheduled for 4 p.m. at KeyBank Center.
Following his team’s loss to the Czech Republic on Sunday, Switzerland head coach Christian Wohlwend caused a stir by seemingly waving the white flag with his candid comments about his team’s chances against one-loss Canada.
Wohlwend said he expects the Swiss to be “dominated” on Tuesday, but added they will hold as best they can and fight as hard as they can against what he proclaimed to be a superior Canadian side.
“They’re faster, they’re bigger, they’re stronger, they can shoot better and they can pass better. They can do everything better,” Wohlwend said. “They have how many first rounders? And the rest (were picked) in the second round? And one in the fourth round that has played in the most NHL games?”
“We have one (picked) in the fourth round. One. The rest are undrafted.”
Whether or not Wohlwend was trying to play mind games with his opponents or subversively motivate his own players remains unknown, but he did add that Switzerland will have the benefit of having “no pressure at all” in the match up.
The two sides do have recent history. Canada defeated Switzerland, 8-1, in a pre-tournament game on December 22. Forward Dillon Dube led the way with two goals and three points in that win. Forward Tyler Steenbergen also had a pair of goals and forwards Jordan Kyrou and Drake Batherson and defensemen Jake Bean and Kale Clague rounded out Canada’s scoring.
Kyrou (1+4) and forward Sam Steel (3+2) lead the Canadians with five points apiece. They are part of a balanced Canada attack that has gotten its 21 goals from 13 different players. Eighteen of their 20 skaters have recorded at least a point.
Canada leads the World Juniors at 5.25 goals per game and has out-scored its opponents, 21-6, in the group stage. Four of those six goals against came in one game, its 4-3 shootout loss to the United States.
Switzerland, which is making its second-straight appearance in the quarterfinals, has been more hard-pressed for offense. It has scored just 10 times in four games, which is tied for the worst mark among teams in the playoff round. The Swiss will also send the tournament’s least efficient penalty kill (6-for-11) up against Canada’s top-ranked power play (8-for-15).
Switzerland forward Marco Miranda leads his country with two goals and four points.
Quarterfinals Game Three: Sweden vs. Slovakia
6 p.m. at KeyBank Center
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By Alec Gearty
For 11 years, Sweden maintained its dominance in the preliminary round. The last time Sweden lost a game in that stage was in 2006, when Canada defeated the Swedes 2-0. Since then, Sweden remained in control as its success allowed the team to hold possession of the first seed in Group B.
Sweden’s 11 standings points set up a quarterfinal matchup with Slovakia, who finished with a 2-2 record in Group A. When the two teams meet, it will be a battle between one of the most efficient offenses, against one of the most inefficient.
Led by forward Lias Andersson, Sweden scored 20 goals through its first four games. Sweden is tied with the United States and trails Canada by one goal in the same category. Andersson (5+1) and Elias Pettersson (4+2) make up for 45 percent of the team’s scoring. With those two at the forefront, Sweden’s offense sees a surplus of scoring.
Despite its upset win over the United States, the Slovak offense has been rather inconsistent. Slovakia went from scoring two goals against the Finns to a five-goal explosion against Denmark.
If Slovakia were to advance, it would be based off of goaltender Roman Durny, who appeared in three games for Slovakia.
Durny has carried much of the workload in the tournament’s short span. He made 100 saves thus far and holds a 2.67 goals-against average. Forward Samuel Bucek dubbed the goaltender as “one of the best players” for Slovakia.
The winner between Sweden and Slovakia will face the winner of Tuesday night’s matchup between the United States and Russia.
Quarterfinals Game Four: United States vs. Russia
8 p.m. at KeyBank Center
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By Aaron Cheris
A new chapter will be written in one of international hockey’s oldest rivalries when the Untied States and Russia battle in the quarterfinals on Tuesday night at KeyBank Center.
Tonight’s game marks a rematch of the 2017 semifinals, when the United States got a dramatic 5-4 shootout win behind an incredible three goals in the shootout by Troy Terry. However, Team USA is 0-3 against Russia all-time in the quarterfinals.
In order to reverse that trend, the Americans will look to the tournament’s leading scorer, Casey Mittelstadt. The Sabres prospect currently has nine points over four games, three more than any other player in the tournament. Arguably the tournament MVP after the preliminary round, Mittelstadt looks to have the crowd on his side as he looks to continue his dream tournament.
Linemate Brady Tkachuk is second on the team in scoring with two goals and four assists for six points. Also leading the American attack is New York Islanders prospect Kieffer Bellows, one of only four players to have scored four goals in the preliminary round.
In goal, the Americans are likely to start Joseph Woll, who played three of four games in the preliminary round, posting a 2.34 goals-against average and .894 save percentage.
In their last game, team USA let a 4-2 lead slip away before getting a late goal from Adam Fox to earn a 5-4 win over Finland, clinching the number two seed from Group A.
Team USA’s strength has been scoring, with their 20 goals ranking second in the preliminary round behind only Canada. However, the penalty kill has struggled at times, having ranked sixth in the opening round with a 72.7 percent success rate (8-for-11).
The strong United States attack may need to content with a potent Russian penalty kill, which ranked first in the tournament with at 86.6 percent (13-for-15). However, the power play ranked ninth at just 6.2 percent (1-for-16) over four games.
The Russian attack has been led by St. Louis Blues prospect Klim Kostin, whose six points leads his team and tie for second in the tournament.
Desperate for a regulation win over Sweden in their most recent game, Russia pulled its goalie in a tie game in the final minute, but couldn’t find a winning goal to avoid a date with the Americans. Ultimately, Russia fell 4-3 in a shootout to earn the number three seed in Group B.
With five assists, Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov ranks second in the tournament in that category and Artur Kayumov also has five points with three goals and two assists.
In net, look for Russia to go with Vladislav Sukhachyov, who has played in all four games so far and posted a 2.65 goals against average and .892 save percentage.
Lastly, one of two streaks will end tonight. Either Team USA’s defense of its gold medal will fall, or Russia’s streak of seven straight years with a medal will end in Buffalo. The game has the look of a classic, and it starts at 8 p.m.
