Day 6 at the World Junior Championship saw some more late-game heroics from the defending champs and a nail-biting affair as Sweden looked to preserve their preliminary round winning streak.
With the first phase of the tournament over and the playoff round just days away, here are a few takeaways from Sunday’s action.
CZECH REPUBLIC 6, SWITZERLAND 3
• The Czechs finished off the preliminary round how they began: riding on the seat of its offence.
They upset the Russians in a wild 5-4 game to open the tournament, which was an unexpected win that threw anticipated results in Group B out the window. With a 3-1 record, the Czech Republic finished second and will face Finland in the medal round. They should feel confident in their chances with the offence they can bring, but their inability to keep the puck out of the net is a liability.
With 18 goals in four games, the Czechs finished with the second-most goals in Group B (and fourth-most overall) and have the second-best power play converting 46.15 per cent of the time. Carolina first-round pick (12th overall in 2017) Martin Necas leads the way with two goals and six points, while defenceman Libor Hajek sits second in the tournament with five assists, next to only Rasmus Dahlin. Hajek is a Lightning pick (37th overall in 2016) — as if they needed another hot WJC prospect.
The question is if the Czech defence and goaltending can hold up in increasingly more difficult one-and-done games. The team save percentage is seventh in the WJC with an .880 rate, which isn’t helped by the fact the team took the most minor penalties in the preliminaries with a penalty kill operating at 66.6 per cent.
• As the fourth seed in Group B, the Swiss avoid relegation and will face Team Canada in the medal round.
If they could beat the Canadians it would be a monumental upset, but Christian Wohlwend isn’t expecting it. The Swiss head coach was candid about his outlook for the David vs. Goliath matchup, saying he expected Canada to dominate his team at every level.
The Swiss were crushed by the Canadians 8-1 in a pre-tournament game and didn’t fare much better against the three other playoff teams from Group B, losing by a combined 18-7 to Sweden, Russia and the Czech Republic. If there is a silver lining it’s that they were tied or behind by one goal heading into the third period of all those games.
One of Switzerland’s best players so far will be back at next year’s tournament, where the country could return a stronger team. Philipp Kurashev, a draft eligible 18-year-old with 31 points in 33 QMJHL games, has three points in four games for the Swiss. Nando Eggenberger doesn’t have a point yet, but he’s also a first-round hopeful in 2018.
It’s not quite as many first-rounders as Canada has, but this Swiss team isn’t without talent. Imagine if they still had Nico Hischier, too
• The lesson from the past couple of days is don’t take too many penalties against the Americans. They are just too loaded with skill to give up multiple man advantages. The Finns took five minor penalties in this game, the fourth of which proved most costly.
After Finland looked to be turning the tide on the Americans and controlling much of the play in the second period, Aapeli Rasanen’s tripping penalty led to a USA goal from Joey Anderson (his second of the game) with less than a minute left. The marker gave the Americans a two-goal lead.
Finland did fight back in the third period to make a game of it, but as we saw against Canada in the outdoor game and the last prelim game on Sunday, if you give the American PP unit too many chances, it’ll burn you.
• Two key offenive players had been missing for the Finns all tournament, but finally Eeli Tolvanen and Kristian Vesalainen got on the board.
Tolvanen had the higher expectations of the two, as he’s scored 32 points in 39 KHL games for Jokerit. The Nashville first-rounder (30th overall in 2017) has taken the Russian league by storm, but despite coming into the game with 19 shots on goal, had failed to score one of his own at the WJC. When he finally did against the USA, he threw the monkey off his back in celebration.
Eeli Tolvanen is quite possibly the best sniper in the entire tournament. The last thing Team USA wants to do is give him opportunities on the PP. They did just that. 3-2 game. #WJC pic.twitter.com/A41ORbdAcK
— Jordie (@BarstoolJordie) December 31, 2017
Maybe that puck luck is beginning to turn and, if so, Tolvanen could be a weapon who explodes for the Finns against the Czechs in the medal round.
Vesalainen had managed just six shots on goal as the Winnipeg first-rounder has been very quiet in the junior tournament, disappointing for a player with his size (6-foot-3, 207 pounds) and skill.
• The Americans will face Russia in the quarterfinals—certainly not an easy group to get past, but one with some flaws Team USA should be able to exploit.
The Russians put in a strong performance against Sweden, taking the Group B champ to a shootout and nearly ending the Tre Kronor’s 43-game unbeaten streak in preliminary world junior matches. Much of that strong play came on the back of goaltender Vladislav Sukhachyov, who held the dynamic Swedish attack at bay as best he could.
He’ll give the Americans a stiff test in net. But only if Russia can stay out of the box–something they weren’t able to do too well against Sweden on Sunday. The Russian squad endured a particularly brutal seven-minute stretch over the end of the first period and beginning of the second, during which they were called for holding, delay of game, slashing and hooking.
They escaped that penalty frenzy without a goal-against, but a similar lapse in judgement against Team USA likely won’t bring the same result.
• As the two Group A basement dwellers duked it out for a chance to move on to the quarterfinals, Slovakia proved too much for the Danish squad, even with a slew of ill-timed penalties threatening to give Denmark a shot at an upset.
The third game on Sunday’s world juniors schedule saw more penalty minutes logged (32) than the day’s previous two games combined, as Slovakia and Denmark laid it all on the line to stave off relegation. Despite finding themselves shorthanded five times through the first 40 minutes of the tilt, Slovakia’s aggressive penalty kill managed to emerge as a game-changer for their club.
While they allowed one goal in the first five minutes of the game, the Slovakian penalty kill went to work from there on, consistently pushing Denmark back and forcing them to make decisions under pressure. Kill number two, midway through the first period, was strong enough to spur the game-tying goal soon after. Late in the second, the Slovakian penalty killers took matters into their own hands once again, pressuring the Danish man advantage back into their own zone before scoring a shorthanded marker.
The shorthanded tally took all life out of the Danish comeback attempt, negating a strong start to the second period from the underdog.
• Though the final score might suggest he got lit up throughout, netminder Kasper Krog might have been the only reason Denmark was able to hang in there as long as they did.
The Danes got dominated in the first period, managing an early goal but ultimately getting outshot 13-4 by Slovakia. However, with Krog holding down the fort, they escaped the first frame with a tied score. That gave Denmark enough steam to come out strong early in the second period. They poured on six shots through the first five minutes of the middle frame alone, limiting Slovakia to just one, before the latter club beat Korg with a quick shot through traffic to end the tie.
The 19-year-old looked visibly frustrated with his team early in the third, as the Danish defence gifted the opposition two golden chances, both of which resulted in goals, to all but end Denmark’s quarterfinal chances. Slovakia finished the night with 40 total shots—a hefty workload for Krog, who likely did all he could to give his squad a chance.
• While Slovakia will be glad to avoid relegation, their run isn’t likely to continue much longer. Up next in the playoff round is Sweden, who has looked nothing short of dominant thus far while finishing atop Group B.
Slovakia has one tournament-altering upset on their résumés already, having taken down Team USA with a 3-2 win, so perhaps they have another trick in the bag. But with 14 goals allowed through their four preliminary games (second-most among Group A teams) and the Swedes boasting the second-most goals overall (tied with the Americans), Slovakia’s chances aren’t looking great.
• Sweden’s blue line has looked otherworldly all tournament long, and the country’s dominance from the back end was the difference maker once again on Sunday.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Timothy Liljegren finished with player of the game honours after pacing his team with a goal and an assist. The 18-year-old was flying, dishing to Lias Andersson for Sweden’s first tally seven minutes into the contest, and then collecting a rebound at the net-front for his own goal later in that same period.
Then there was, of course, Rasmus Dahlin. The projected 2018 first-overall pick was held scoreless in the 4-3 shootout win, but he was certainly noticeable, leading all skaters with an absurd eight shots on goal and putting his all-world skill on display more than a few times:
• While both netminders were strong in the nail-biting affair—which saw the two clubs combine for 67 total shots—both Sukhachyov and Filip Gustavsson left more to be desired in terms of controlling play at the net-front.
Five goals were scored off of rebounds in close—Andersson, Liljegren and Glenn Gustafsson tallied this way for Sweden while Klim Kostin and Alexei Polodyan scored off second chances for the Russians.
That won’t be as much of an issue for Sweden, as they face the Slovakian offence next. But it could certainly become an issue for the Russians, who have to take on Team USA.
• While the Russians came close to ending Sweden’s streak, their offence as a whole hasn’t looked too inspiring through the preliminary round. Kostin has shone, tying for second among all tournament scorers thus far, but he ranks as the only Russian in the tournament’s top 11 scorers.
They exit the preliminary round ranked fifth in terms of total goals, seeming to lack a true game-changer that can take over if need be. Last time around, winger Kirill Kaprizov filled that role, leading all tournament scorers with nine goals and 12 points through seven games.
Kostin looks to be Russia’s best bet at the moment, with Artur Kayumov and Polodyan their next best offensive threats thus far. They’ll have to hope that is enough, as they’ll need their offence firing on all cylinders if they hope to take down Team USA and continue their medal streak.
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