Game Recaps: December 28, 2017
By BuffaloWorldJuniors.com Staff
Posted 12/28/17
Sweden 3 – Czech Republic 1
By Ryan Evans
Buffalo Sabres prospect Alexander Nylander and his country’s potent power play ruled the day as Sweden took full advantage of its chances to stave off the resurgent Czech Republic in a 3-1 win on Thursday at KeyBank Center.
With the victory, Sweden established itself as the Group B frontrunner with six points from two games and continued its mastery of the World Juniors group stage. It has now won 42 straight preliminary round games dating back to the 2007 tournament.
Tre Kronor’s deft puck movement helped it go 2-for-4 with the man advantage, which proved to be the difference against the upstart Czechs. Forward Elias Pettersson scored the eventual game-winning goal on the power play late in the first period and Nylander sealed the victory early in the third.
Sweden’s power play has run at an impressive 33.33 percent in its first two games.
“We are all talented and skilled players and can play in any position out there, which helps a lot,” Nylander, the eighth overall pick by Buffalo in 2016, said. “We all know our roles on the power play.”
Both of the Sabres’ Swedish draft picks showed well in front of the Buffalo faithful. In addition to Nylander’s pair of points – including the primary helper on Pettersson’s game-winner – forward Marcus Davidsson, a 2017 second-round pick, scored his first goal of the tournament to open the scoring just under six minutes into the first.
“It was nice to score and it means a lot for my confidence,” Davidsson said.
Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, who could be first overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, charted a pair of power-play assists for his second straight multi-point effort. He and Nylander share the team and tournament points lead with four apiece.
For Nylander, whose performance netted him Player of the Game honors, playing in his third World Juniors is helping bring him up to speed after missing the first two months of this season with an injury. So far, so good as he has notched a pair of multi-point efforts in as many games.
“I am trying to get into my top form at this tournament and it is helping me a lot,” he said. “It is good for my development and I feel like I am getting better and better every game.”
After Sweden dominated the opening period, racking up a 15-5 shots on goal advantage and racing out to a 2-0 lead, it seemed ready to cruise to victory. But the Czechs came alive in a strong second and closed the gap to one, 2-1, with a late power play goal courtesy of forward Filip Zadina.
Staring at a one-goal deficit, the Czech Republic had a prime chance to permanently tilt the momentum in its favor on a 5-on-3 chance early in the third. But Sweden survived and got Nylander’s insurance marker just minutes later to salt the game away.
“That was big for us and a great job by our penalty killers,” Nylander said. “We kept them from getting back into the game and to get a goal after that was huge.”
Both sides will continue Group B play on Saturday, December 30. The Czech Republic will face off against Belarus at noon at KeyBank Center and Sweden will match up with Switzerland at 2 p.m. at HarborCenter.
Slovakia 3 – United States 2
By Jim Christopher
Goal of the tournament? Upset of the tournament? Game of the tournament?
The Slovakians defeating the United States 3-2 in the final game of day three of the World Junior Championships at KeyBank Center provided all this drama and then some.
Last night, Canada handled the Slovaks a 6-0 loss which saw them get outshot 52-20. One night later, the Slovakians knew they faced a tall task against the Americans.
“It’s something amazing. I don’t know what to say,” Slovakian forward Samuel Bucek said. “We never really thought we could beat the U.S.A., but we’ve done that because we’ve been playing with patience and we’ve stuck with the process on the ice.”
In beating the defending champions, Slovakia handed the United States its first loss since in World Junior Championship tournament play since the 2016 semifinals, snapping a nine-game winning streak, which was the longest in the program’s history.
Spearheading the upset was goaltender Roman Durny and his 43-save effort.
“[Durny] was outstanding,” Bucek said. “If he wasn’t in the net tonight we probably wouldn’t have won.”
Despite being heavily outshot 45-25, the play of Durny and timely goals from the Slovaks were enough to earn them their first win of the tournament.
Slovakia was able to get on the scoreboard for the first time this tournament early in the second period. Following Ryan Lindgren’s shot attempt getting deflected off of Bucek, the Slovaks were on off to the races on a 3-on-1 the other way. Filip Krivoski finished the breakout by beating United States goaltender Joseph Woll 5-hole to go up 1-0.
Brady Tkachuk would not allow the United States to trail for long. Racing down the ice alongside Ryan Poehling, Tkachuk was on the receiving end of a perfect sauce pass that he moved to his backhand to slide between the legs of Durny to tie the game at 1-1.
Tkachuk, a projected first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, had multiple scoring chances early on in the game but was denied continuously by Durny.
By consistently creating scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates along with mixing in a physical style of play, Tkachuk awarded head coach Bob Motzko’s decision to bump him to the top line with Poehling and Joe Anderson by seemingly playing his most complete game of the tournament and being named Player of the Game for the United States.
“My goal today was to try to play my best for Ryan and Joe, and try to create chances for them, make plays and go to the net,” Tkachuk said. “I still need to learn from this game and bury more of those chances and be ready for tomorrow.”
Following Krivoski’s second goal of the game, Casey Mittelstadt showcased why he is considered one of the best young players in the tournament by scoring what could go down as the goal of the 2018 World Junior Championship.
After stealing back the puck at the Slovakian blue line, Mittelstadt put the puck between his legs to work around the defender, cut across the crease and was able to beat Durny while falling down to tie the game at 2-2.
While the incredible individual effort set the KeyBank Center crowd into a frenzy, Mittelstadt was quick to point out he had a luck on his side.
“I got pretty lucky,” he said. “I got a nice bounce to get a rush I just made a move and sometimes you get lucky like that.”
The momentum the United States gained following Mittelstadt’s spectacular goal was short lived, however.
With just over two minutes remaining, Bucek attempted a wraparound that was denied by Woll only to have the rebound land at his feet, putting home the rebound attempt that ultimately was the deciding factor.
Tonight’s victory was only the fourth for Slovakia over the United States in the history of the World Juniors, boasting a 4-0-0-12-1 record all-time against the Americans in tournament play.
The United States will need a short memory as they have a quick turnaround playing their rival Canada at New Era Field in the first ever outdoor game in World Junior Championship history. Puck drop is set for tomorrow at 3 p.m. Slovakia will next see action Dec. 30 when they take on Finland at 4 p.m.
Russia 5 – Switzerland 2
By Aaron Cheris
A rejuvenated Russian squad rebounded from an opening game loss to defeat a tough Switzerland team 5-2 on Thursday afternoon at HarborCenter.
Controlling the pace for most of the game, Russia outshot Switzerland 37-13 to earn its first win in Buffalo since taking the gold in 2011.
“Obviously, we needed to win badly after being defeated in the first game. We needed to get some mental confidence.” Russia forward Klim Kostin said. “We want to repeat the success we had last time in Buffalo and we will do everything we can for it.”
Special teams were the difference in the first period. Russia began strong by killing off two Swiss power plays in the first nine minutes, giving up just two shots on goal.
When they earned a power play shortly after their second penalty kill, the Russians took advantage. With the puck at the blue line, Vladislav Syomin’s wrist shot deflected off a defender’s skate and past goaltender Philip Wuthrich, giving Russia a 1-0 lead that they would hold at the first intermission.
The Swiss wasted no time in getting even at the start of the second period. Off the opening faceoff, Guillaume Maillard got the puck to Philipp Kurashev, who found Marco Miranda streaking up the middle of the ice. With a step on the defense, Miranda got the puck alone in front and buried a wrist shot past Russian goaltender Vladislav Sukhachyov to tie the game nine seconds into the period.
However, the puck remained in the Switzerland zone for most of the period, with Wuthrich denying the Russian attack time each time. After killing off a five on three, Switzerland looked like it would be able to get to the intermission tied.
Then Russia got an opportunity and made the best of it as Kostin scored off a rebound just outside the crease to give the Russians a 2-1 lead after two periods. Syomin and Andrei Svechnikov assisted on the goal as Russia outshot Switzerland 16-3 in the second frame.
Despite the wide margin in shots, the Russians still had the same objective in mind to combat any nerves on the bench.
“We had to shoot even more,” Kostin said.
Again, Switzerland was quick to equalize at the start of the period. Ken Jager got the puck inside the Russian zone and skated wide before driving hard to the net and stuffing the puck under Sukhachyov’s pad to even the score 2-2 less than three minutes into the period.
“It was a three on two, I got the puck and tried to go outside the defender and drive to the front of the net, and it went in,” Jager said. “It’s a nice feeling to score, but if you lose afterwards it’s useless.”
In the back-and-forth contest, it was the Russians who took the lead for the third, and ultimately final time. Kostin found Artur Kayumov going to the net and Kayumov lifted a shot high under the crossbar to give the Russians a 3-2 lead.
A key insurance goal followed with under two minutes to play as Georgi Ivanov’s shot was denied, but Svechnikov followed to put the rebound over the goal line, doubling the lead to 4-2.
Less than 30 seconds later, Vitali Abramov scored from the neutral zone into an empty net to seal the Russians’ first win of the tournament.
“They defended well and their goalie played well,” Abramov said of Switzerland. “We couldn’t find the keys for the net, but we finally found them late.”
Switzerland was held to five or fewer shots in all three periods, a total they will look to improve on in their next game.
“We have to create more scoring chances and score more goals, that was the difference today,” Jager said.
In goal, Sukhachyov stopped 11 of 13 shots to earn the win while Wuthrich stopped 32 of 36 shots in a losing effort. Kostin and Syomin each recorded a goal and an assist while Svechnikov and Dimitri Sokolov each assisted twice.
Russia continues preliminary round action with a noon matchup against Belarus on Friday afternoon at HarborCenter. After an off day on Friday, Switzerland plays Sweden at HarborCenter on Saturday at 2 p.m.
Finland 4 – Denmark 1
By Jeff Baker
After dropping their opener in Group A play, Finland picked up its first victory at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship with a decisive 4-1 win over Denmark at KeyBank Center on Thursday afternoon.
The Finns scored on their first shot and controlled play for most of the game, finishing with 62 shots on goal while allowing only seven shots, and none in the third period.
“We have to keep utilizing our chances because we had so many,” said Finland head coach Jussi Ahokas. “I didn’t think at any point there was a chance [Denmark] could’ve won. The last period, our goalie didn’t get any saves, so I like the way we handled the situation.”
Joona Koppanen opened the scoring 2:49 into the game. Just over four minutes later, Aapeli Rasanen converted an errant shot off the boards with a rebound goal to give Finland a 2-0 lead.
Denmark hung on, including a 5-on-3 penalty kill, to stay within two goals at the end of the first period despite being outshot, 18-1.
The Danes earned their first goal of the tournament 1:38 into the second period when forward Nikolaj Krag found the far-side top corner on the powerplay.
But Finland would answer with two goals by defensemen in the period’s final five minutes.
Finnish captain Juuso Valimaki, a first-round (16th overall) selection by the Calgary Flames in the 2017 NHL Draft, scored on a one-timer slapshot from the blue line with 4:22 left.
Henri Jokiharju, the Chicago Blackhawks’ first-round pick (29th overall) in 2017, continued to show off his offensive prowess by finding the puck in traffic at the top of the crease two minutes later for his second goal of the tourney to make it 4-1.
“Two big goals at the end of the second, so that was huge,” Valimaki said. “We’ve just got to make sure that we manage our scoring chances a little bit better.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, a 2017 second-round selection of the Buffalo Sabres, handled six of seven shots to follow up his 28-save effort in Finland’s 4-2 loss to Canada on Tuesday.
On the other end, Denmark goaltender Kasper Krog carried his team with 58 stops, as the squad rebounded from their 9-0 loss to the United States two days prior.
“Their goalie was good,” Jokiharju said. “Have to give a lot of credit to Team Denmark, blocking probably 20 shots today.”
With the game all but decided late in the third period, Denmark captain Christian Mathiasen-Wejse sacrificed his body to block a shot, which drew cheers from the team’s bench.
“It’s huge, he did the same thing last year,” Krog said. “We’ve been talking about that all the time. We’ve got to sacrifice and work hard.”
Gold medalists at the World Juniors in 2014 and 2016, Finland got revenge after last year’s preliminary round loss to Denmark sent them to the relegation stage.
Finland will use Friday’s day off to watch film of their next opponent in Slovakia, who plays the U.S. tonight, in advance of their game on Saturday at 4 p.m.
“Tomorrow, we’ll see how the Slovaks play,” Valimaki said. “Maybe skate a short time and get ready for the next game.”
Both teams return to action on Saturday at KeyBank Center with Finland taking on Slovakia at 4 p.m. before Denmark faces off with Canada, who beat the Finns 4-2 on Tuesday, at 8 p.m.
“I think we’ve just got to play the same style,” Krog said. “As we get into the zone, maybe get more pucks on net. And just try to outwork them.”
