The World Cup of Hockey round robin is almost over, and with the tinkering phase in the rear-view mirror, coaches (Ralph Krueger not included) have settled on their line combinations.
In an event like this, it’s crucial to find chemistry as soon as possible as two bad games can end your tournament.
So here are the five most impressive lines so far at the World Cup.
Crosby-Bergeron-Marchand
There was once a time when finding the right set of forwards to play with Sidney Crosby was arguably Mike Babcock’s most challenging task as head coach of Team Canada.
That time appears to be over.
With world junior mate Patrice Bergeron and two-way force Brad Marchand, Canada has a line that has so far gotten the most out of its best player.
McDavid-Matthews-Scheifele
Team North America head coach Todd McLellan put Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele with phenom Connor McDavid and future Leafs star Auston Matthews for Wednesday’s game against Team Sweden, though the two most recent first overall picks have had success with others throughout the World Cup as well.
North America has put on a show throughout the tournament, winning over fans and pundits with its speed and skill, and the McDavid line encapsulates that better than any other, with respect to the Johnny Gaudreau line.
Malkin-Kucherov-Kulemin
Evgeni Malkin and Nikolai Kulemin go way back, having been linemates on Metallurg Magnitogorsk of what became the KHL before coming to North America, and have been playing together on the national team for years.
They opened the tournament with Vladimir Tarasenko as their third in a loss to Sweden, but were arguably Russia’s best possession line in a game in which Russia was outplayed.
Russia then brought in Nikita Kucherov for Tarasenko in a win over North America.
Kulemin is the grinder of the trio, able to get dirty in hopes of creating space for his all-world linemates as shown in the (rather fluky) goal above.
Backstrom-Forsberg-Hornqvist
Sweden doesn’t wow anyone with an explosive offence, but it plays to its strength in controlling the play and limiting its opponents’ chances.
With Nicklas Backstrom, Filip Forsberg, and Patric Hornqvist head coach Rikard Gronborg has found himself a unit that can play at any end of the rink.
In Sweden’s opening game against Team Finland, the Backstrom line dominated play, despite receiving a considerable amount of minutes against Finland’s young stars line of Aleksander Barkov, Patrik Laine, and Sebastian Aho.
They then had two of Sweden’s three goals on Wednesday against North America, helping their team clinch a spot in the semifinals with an overtime loss.
Duchene-Thornton-O’Reilly
Canada’s “fourth” line is a perfect example of the impressive depth the reigning champion has throughout its lineup.
On any given night, anyone on Canada can lead the way, and against the Americans on Tuesday it was the Duchene line.
With a speedster in Matt Duchene, one of hockey’s greatest passers in Joe Thornton, and a premier two-way forward in Ryan O’Reilly, there’s a lot to like with this group.
