Day: December 31, 2018

WJC Day 5 roundup

Russia stays undefeated with win against Switzerland

By NHL.com

Russia 7, Switzerland 4

Dmitri Samorukov (Edmonton Oilers), Alexander Alexeyev (Washington Capitals), Grigori Denisenko (Florida Panthers) and Vitali Kravtsov (New York Rangers) each had a goal and an assist to help Russia defeat Switzerland 7-4 in preliminary round Group A action at the IIHF World Junior Championship at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Sunday.

Forward Kirill Slepets, who is eligible for the 2019 NHL Draft, put Russia ahead 4-3 with a shorthanded 2:04 into the third period.

Kirill Marchenko (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Pavel Shen (Boston Bruins) also scored for Russia (3-0-0-0), which plays Canada (3-0-0-0) for the top spot in Group A on Monday.

Danil Tarasov (Blue Jackets) made 27 saves for Russia, including two penalty shots awarded on the same play with 3:05 left in the second period and the game tied 3-3.

Marco Lehmann scored twice, and Valentin Nussbaumer and Yannick Bruschweiler each had a goal and an assist for Switzerland (1-0-1-2), which failed to protect 2-0 and 3-1 leads.

Akira Schmid (New Jersey Devils) made 34 saves for Switzerland.

Slovakia 11, Kazakhstan 2

Andrej Kollar scored a hat trick in Slovakia’s 11-2 win against Kazakhstan in a Group B preliminary-round game at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.

Adam Ruzicka (Calgary Flames) had two goals and an assist, Marcel Dlugos scored two goals, Adam Liska, Milos Roman (Flames), Filip Krivosik and Pavol Regenda each had a goal and an assist, and Samuel Hlavaj made 15 saves for Slovakia (1-0-0-2).

Artur Gatiyatov scored two goals for Kazakhstan (0-0-0-3).

KalPa edges Canada in shootout for Spengler Cup title

KalPa Kuopio wins the Spengler cup for the first time

By The Canadian Press

Jaakko Rissanen scored in the eighth round of a shootout to give Finnish club KalPa Kuopio a 2-1 win over three-time defending champion Canada in the final of the Spengler Cup on Monday.

KalPa goalie Denis Godla led his team to a 3-2 shootout win against Canada netminder Zach Fucale and his squad.

Rissanen beat Fucale with a high backhand before Godla made a pad save on Canada captain Andrew Ebbett to end it.

The shootout was tied at 2-2 following three shooters each, bringing it to sudden death. Godla — the MVP of the 2015 world junior championship when he lifted Slovakia to a bronze medal — made five straight saves for the win.

Canada fell just shot of matching its run of four consecutive Spengler Cup titles from 1995 to 1998.

Canada outshot KalPa 40-23.

Daniel Winnik opened the scoring for Canada in the third period before Eetu Luostarinen tied it.

It was KalPa’s first Spengler Cup title in the history of the annual holiday tournament.

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