PITTSBURGH – We never truly know how these things are going to go.
Part of what makes best-on-best tournaments so compelling is that even though Team Canada has won eight of the 12 ever played, and even in a situation like this World Cup where its lineup is littered with winners, glory is never guaranteed.
And so as our red machine dispatched Russia with a 3-2 overtime win in Wednesday’s final pre-tournament game, we were reminded of how thin the line is between both potential outcomes.
There were shades of Sochi in the way Team Canada meticulously dominated the first period. They basically played keep-away from a team that includes Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Vladimir Tarasenko and several other serious scoring threats.
Then they began flirting with danger – taking seven penalties while falling behind 2-1 – and needed to rally against a razor-sharp Sergei Bobrovsky to leave with a sense of satisfaction.
“To me, we got in our way,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “I thought we played really well at the start, I thought we controlled things. They probably got a little better, we probably got a little worse. They took over, we took the penalties and too many and some needless ones.”
At this level, hockey often devolves into a game of chance.
The overriding focus of a 10-day training camp was establishing a system where Team Canada could eliminate as much chance as possible when the lights go up.
That was underscored during a couple of the practices last week in Ottawa, when Babcock had his players perform line change drills designed to allow them to keep possession of the puck while switching up on the fly.
It’s not exactly the kind of work you might expect to see a $170-million roster doing in early September, but it speaks to the level of detail being put into this tournament.
The thinking is relatively simple: If you control the puck the other team can’t. Even world-class opponents can’t bend a game without generating scoring opportunities.
Team Canada controlled the possession battle in all three tuneup games – never more impressively than the opening 20 minutes on Wednesday. The top line particularly displayed its prowess at 5-on-5, with Patrice Bergeron opening the scoring by going bar-down with a backhander moments after receiving a slick backhand pass from captain Sidney Crosby.
“I thought we kept it pretty simple,” said Crosby. “I mean we didn’t try to make a lot of plays that weren’t there. We backchecked hard. They’re really skilled – any time or space they get, it doesn’t take much for them to create a chance – I thought we respected that and kind of made our plays accordingly.”
Added Bergeron: “When we were hard on them and first on the pucks that was definitely working in our advantage.”
Encouragement could also be found in the play of goaltender Carey Price, who looked much sharper in his second game since returning from knee issues than the first. He robbed Ovechkin on a first-period power play and just generally appeared more comfortable in the crease.
“I thought he was way more in control tonight, playing his normal game,” said teammate Ryan Getzlaf. “He was patient in the net and he moved the puck well.”
It’s not a stretch to suggest that the difference in a single-elimination semifinal could ultimately come down to specialty teams. That will continue to be a major focus as the tournament gets underway.
Even though Team Canada basically throws out an all-star team with every power-play formation Babcock dreams up – ie. Crosby-Jonathan Toews-Corey Perry-Claude Giroux-Brent Burns – it didn’t generate enough dangerous chances against the Russians.
“I don’t like that we don’t shoot it and get it back,” said Babcock. “And shoot it again and get it back.”
Ultimately, that’s why they’ve spent the last week and a half working together.
A champion doesn’t come ready-made out of the wrapper. Getzlaf, who scored the overtime winner against Bobrovsky on a breakaway, liked that the game came with a lot of different scenarios.
“The one thing tonight we got to work on everything,” he said.
Ryan O’Reilly joined the group after driving through the night Tuesday to replace the injured Tyler Seguin. He immediately labelled it the most talent team he’s ever played on.
What stands out the most?
“It’s a tournament with elite players, but you look in here and how decorated this team is,” said O’Reilly. “You can just see the leadership of them. The way guys – when it’s the time to do the right things they just do them. It’s like effortless. Everyone’s got that in them, that intensity and knowing when to step up.
“You can feel it.”
There was a palpable sense of excitement as the players packed up their gear in the Penguins dressing room at Consol Energy Center. The next stop on their itinerary was a charter flight to Toronto.
It is there where we’ll find out how good this group can be.
