MONTREAL — Team North America officially became the sexiest element of this World Cup of Hockey, if it wasn’t already, by ripping in five goals in the first 16 minutes of a game against Team Europe Sunday evening at the Bell Centre.
But there’s this little issue.
It’s not 1986 anymore, and sexy doesn’t win big games against veteran teams in 2016. I know – I don’t like it either. But facts are facts, and head coach Todd McLellan, in the wake of a 5-1 lead that ended up as a 7-4 victory, dropped this little nugget of truth in his post-game analysis.
“We’re going to have to win a game 2-1 at some point,” he said. “More importantly, I don’t think we (can) win five or six games in this tournament by scoring five every night.”
Damn. He’s right.
North America dazzled a Montreal crowd that came to see Connor McDavid and the boys fill Europe’s nets. Four of their first eight shots evaded Thomas Greiss, and that was it for the Euro goalie before his team pressed back to push the score to 5-4.
Our conclusion after consecutive pre-tournament wins over Europe (4-0 and 7-4) is two-fold:
1. Team Europe is in trouble here. They’re old, slow, and to these eyes won’t have a prayer of getting past either Canada or the United States in Group A, let alone the Czech Republic.
2. The Under-24 team is fabulous, can skate with any club in this tournament, but has not shown us for a second that they are ready to buckle down beat Sweden or Finland in the inevitable 3-2 game that awaits them next week in Toronto.
“We’re not,” agreed McLellan, who quickly added that his team will be ready to accomplish that feat after two more days of practice and Wednesday’s game against the Czechs in Pittsburgh.
His players, to a man agreed.
“We play like that against the other teams in the tournament, I don’t think we’ll have the same outcome,” said Jack Eichel, who has two assists in the tournament but didn’t particularly click on a line with McDavid on Sunday. “We don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of how good we can be. I guess you can look at that as a positive, if we’re able to win games when we’re not playing our game.”
The question becomes however, what is Team North America’s game?
Their speed and skill is truly something to behold. They come in waves and can pin a team in its own zone for minutes on end. But when the momentum shifts and it is time to play sound defence, well, how would you imagine a team full of 23-and-unders would fare in their own end of the rink?
“That’s the start we’re looking for, but ultimately we have to put a full 60 minutes in. It’s happened twice now. We’ve got to figure it out,” said team captain McDavid, who wouldn’t cut any deeper on that front. “It’s two games into the [tournament], and we won one of the games 4-0. We had a shutout, so, which way you want to look at it?”
That’s fair. So were his comments when asked what we should think about the fact that McDavid remains pointless despite the fact his team has scored 11 times in two games.
“Ultimately it doesn’t matter. We’ve won twice. That’s all that matters,” he said pointedly. “Personally it’s not the kind of start I want to get off to, but it’s two games into the year. Why would I worry?”
For those who wonder why McDavid would be named captain in Edmonton, or wear the C on this team, there is your answer. Where people (read: journalists and fans) may want to begin drawing conclusions, McDavid will be reminding his teammates that these two games are meaningless; that they’ve clearly proved their offensive worth and now it’s time to shore things up defensively.
And if you think he’s truly worried about his pointless pre-tournament, we’ve no doubt that when the 3-2 games occur, McDavid’s name will feature prominently on the scoresheet. He’s still the best player here, and somehow at age 19 lends a veteran presence to a young team.
Around the Team North America roster, Auston Matthews continues to show that he is ready to play at this level. There are no remaining questions about his NHL readiness, and his game would have to fall off markedly for him to drop out of the top nine forwards here.
On defence, Colton Parayko made things difficult with a spirited game Sunday, his first of the tournament. The six-foot-five St. Louis Blues defenceman replaced Jacob Trouba, and with the games destined to get more physical, Parayko’s size, shot and overall game will secure his spot in the top six, it appears.
John Gibson was OK in goal, but won’t threaten Matt Murray for the No. 1 job. Murray will almost certainly get the start in Pitttsburgh Wednesday in his home rink, with perhaps a period saved for Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, who looks like netminder No. 3 here.
