Day: February 16, 2018

By Lucas Aykroyd – IIHF.com

It took two minutes for Tre Kronor to draw first blood. And at this 21:10 start, the winless Germans were doomed before midnight as Sweden stayed perfect in Group C.

Sweden has not allowed a goal yet in this tournament.

“It was a great effort by us,” said German defenceman Bjorn Krupp. “Sweden is an unreal team, but we tried to do our best. Of course, you want to win the game, but 1-0 is good. We played well.”

Viktor Stalberg scored for the Swedes in this hard and heavy game in front of 3,077 fans at the Kwandong Hockey Centre. The Germans showed their mettle with a gritty two-way effort and hit several posts. They deserved a better fate, but their scoring remains as weak as American beer. They lost 5-2 to Finland in their first game.

“It was a hard-puck game,” said Stalberg. “They were battling. They play structured hockey and are hard to play against. They have a lot of big, strong guys. We knew they were going to make it hard on us. They stuck to their game plan very well. We had a good effort, but there are things we need to do better if we’re going to be successful.”

In goal, both Sweden’s Jhonas Enroth and Germany’s Timo Pielmeier saw their first Olympic action ever. Germany outshot Sweden 28-26 as Enroth, who played 156 NHL games and now backstops Dynamo Minsk, shone to earn his shutout.

After being a healthy scratch in the opening 4-0 win over Norway, Sweden’s budding superstar Rasmus Dahlin made his Olympic debut, taking the place of 31-year-old Patrik Hersley. The 17-year-old Frolunda Gothenburg product fit into the blue-and-yellow preliminary-round machine, despite seeing very limited minutes for coach Rikard Gronborg as a power play specialist.

Dahlin would become the first player under 18 to win Olympic gold if the Swedes capture their third title after Lillehammer 1994 and Turin 2006. Sweden is coming off silver in Sochi 2014, where it lost the final 3-0 to Canada.

Sweden got a great start. Stalberg took a pass from Patrick Zackrisson, split the German defence, and zapped a stick-side shot past Pielmeier at 2:00. The EV Zug winger showed the kind of wheels that helped him win the 2013 Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks.

Stalberg described the play: “It was a quick turnaround and a good play by Bergstrom and a nice pass by Zackrisson in the middle. I was able to find some speed and beat the defenders there. With that much speed, I tried to move the puck from one side to the other and find a hole.”

Past the midway mark of the first, Germany’s Dominik Kahun cut in from the right side and rang one off Enroth’s right post. That was the underdogs’ best chance of the period.

The flow bogged down in the second period as Sweden took five minor penalties to Germany’s three. Enroth stood his ground as the Germans pounded away. At the other end, Pielmeier came across to foil Fredrik Pettersson’s one-timer. German defenceman Gerrit Fauser blocked a shot and headed to the dressing room, grimacing in pain.

“Special teams are going to be a huge part of our success,” said Krupp. “It’s so important in international play. That’s where most games are going to be decided.”

After Germany took back-to-back minors, it was Sweden’s turn to play with fire. The Germans got a 5-on-3 for 1:10 with Par Lindholm and Stalberg in the box. They fired away and Kahun again rang one off the iron. German assistant captain Christian Ehrhoff was stunned when Johan Fransson’s slap shot rocked his helmet, but the veteran blueliner kept going.

“Our penalty kill has been great the first two games but the power play needs to come up a bit,” Stalberg said. “We had some decent looks tonight, but we have to start scoring on that. It’s going to be crucial.”

The Germans showed no quit in the third period. Felix Schutz hit Enroth’s right post about six minutes into the frame. With 1:34 left, David Wolf busted to the net on the backhander and ran into the Swedish goalie, but couldn’t get the puck in.

German coach Marco Sturm called his timeout and pulled Pielmeier for the extra skater. Enroth made two fantastic in-tight saves on Schutz to preserve his shutout.

This was the sixth straight Swedish win over the reunified Germany, dating back to the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. Germany, back in the Olympics for the first time since 2010, has not won a game since beating Latvia 4-1 on 12 February 2002 at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

Iron Maiden has confirmed it will play Sweden Rock 2018, and Sweden has confirmed it will play unbeaten Finland in a 21:10 Nordic showdown on Sunday for first place in the group. Play like a trooper or run to the hills will be the order of the day.

On Sunday, Germany faces winless Norway in a 12:10 battle for third and fourth place in Group C.

Source : WTVA.com

Tolvanen, the Nashville Predators’ 2017 first-round pick, scored two more goals to lead Finland past Norway, 5-1, Friday at the Gangneung Ice Centre in PyeongChang, South Korea. It’s Team Finland’s second win of the preliminary round.

“I like scoring every game,” Tolvanen told reporters, “so that’s a big thing for me. I don’t know, I just go out there and have fun and try to play my game.”

The 18-year-old Tolvanen has three goals and three assists through two games in PyeongChang.

Then, at 5:32 of the second period, Tolvanen found himself on a break on Haugen and beat the Norwegian goaltender with a forehand-to-backhand deke, slipping it through Haugen’s five-hole.

Tolvanen’s second marker was the game-winner. He scored twice on six shots on goal and was a threat to score every time he had the puck.

“It’s amazing. It’s a pleasure,” Finland captain Lasse Kukkonen said. “It’s a privilege to be on the same team with him and I get a chance to enjoy watching him play.

“Everybody can see he’s enjoying the hockey. He’s playing the hockey that everybody wants to play, having fun and doing the things he loves out there.”

After a torrid start to the 2017-18 season in the KHL – 16 goals in his first 28 games – Tolvanen hasn’t registered a goal for Jokerit since Nov. 24, 2017, or a span of 18 games.

So far, so good as Tolvanen is emerging as the early star of the Olympics.

“Eeli is a great player with an unbelievable shot,” Finland head coach Lauri Marjamaki said. “He brings us so much, his open-minded game and fearless (approach). And the whole atmosphere is excited because Eeli is on our team.”

A disallowed goal in the second period from Norway shifted the momentum fully into Finland’s favor. Factor in the 12 penalty minutes by the Norwegians, plus the two power-play goals from Finland, and it’s a losing formula.

“I don’t think it did but it looks like it did,” Norway defenseman Jonas Holos said of the disallowed goal. “After that, Finland took over the game completely.

“It was a good call by the referee. You can’t let stuff like that bug you. We took too many penalties. It is tough to kill that many penalties. It drains your energy.”

Norway winger Patrick Thoresen, formerly of the Philadelphia Flyers and Edmonton Oilers, opened the scoring in the first period, depositing a loose puck past Finland goalie Mikko Koskinen on the power play.

Thoresen’s goal was Norway’s lone against Koskinen, who made 21 saves in the win.

Lepisto’s goal was his second of these Olympics.

Haugen allowed five goals on 29 shots. Through two games, the Norwegian goalie has allowed nine goals on 57 shots.

“We played well the first two periods,” Haugen said, “but the lack of discipline was tough, especially against this team. It was frustrating. We were not disciplined enough.

“But the referee is the same for both teams and I guess, the other teams are managing to understand how he calls the games.”

Finland returns to action Sunday against Germany at 7:10 a.m.

Norway faces Germany Saturday night at 10:10 p.m.

By James Ellingworth – American Press

The Russian hockey team is starting to look a lot more like the Olympic favorite everyone expected it to be.

Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov led the way Friday with a hat trick in an 8-2 rout of Slovenia as the Russians rebounded from a surprising 3-2 loss to Slovakia in their opener.

“We’re the same team as we were in the first game,” said Ilya Kovalchuk, who finished with two goals and an assist. “Just first game we play good first five minutes, today we play all 60, so that was the difference.”

The team, officially competing as “Olympic Athletes from Russia,” scored twice on the power play after failing to do so in the opening game.

The Russians will next play the United States on Saturday in a game likely to determine who finishes at the top of the Group B standings.

“Obviously tomorrow we’re expecting a better game and more competitive. The United States is always the United States, so it’s going to be tough,” former Buffalo Sabres forward Mikhail Grigorenko said. “Our top players scored, so that was important. Now they have that confidence. I think it’s a good thing, especially before those important games ahead of us.”

Slovenia was coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Americans, but was overmatched on Friday. The Russian win was the largest margin of victory in an Olympic men’s hockey tournament since Canada beat Austria 6-0 in 2014.

Sergei Mozyakin got the Russians started with a hard shot off Pavel Datysuk’s pass at 18:23 of the first period, and it took only 22 seconds for Kovalchuk to make it 2-0.

The Russians scored four times in 12 minutes during the second period on goals by Alexander Barabanov, Ilya Kablukov, Kaprizov and Kovalchuk.

Former Detroit Red Wings forward Jan Mursak — who got two goals against the United States — scored Slovenia’s first goal off a pass from Miha Verlic in the second period. But Kaprizov scored two more in the third as the Russians pulled away.

Slovenia forward Ziga Pance made it 8-2 late in the game.

Russian goaltender Vasili Koshechkin allowed one goal off eight shots before being replaced after the second period by Ilya Sorokin, who made six saves off seven shots. Luka Gracnar allowed eight goals off 34 shots in Slovenia’s goal.

Even though the International Olympic Committee has barred Russian athletes from competing under their own flag because of doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, there were plenty of Russian flags in the stands. In the first period, there were two large banners depicting the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin and messages of support for the country’s hockey team.

Police and security intervened and the banners were removed. IOC rules bar political statements at Olympic events.

By Pete Blackburn – CBS SPORTS

Team USA desperately needed a bounce-back win after dropping its tournament-opener to Slovenia in shocking fashion. The Americans got it on Thursday night against Slovakia. A pair of goals from USA’s Ryan Donato powered the Americans to a 2-1 win over the Slovaks.

With the victory, Team USA earns three points and jumps to the top of the Group B table for the time being. The loss is Slovakia’s first of the tournament; it follows a big upset win over the Olympic Athletes of Russia on Wednesday.

The Americans seemed to play with a lot more aggression and confidence than they did in their opener, and it helped make the difference on Thursday — especially in a tight game down the stretch.

Donato got the United States out to an early 1-0 lead with a power play goal 7:10 into the first period. It was the first goal of the tournament for the 21-year-old, who plays for Harvard and is a Boston Bruins prospect.