At the World Championship in Demark:
Team USA had a rough day, and it cost them a first-round bye in the World Championship’s playoff format.
Dylan Larkin finished at -3 with 2 shots in 20:33 played, and Nick Jensen finished at -1 in 10:58 played as Team USA lost 6-3 to Finland.
Here’s Team USA’s website’s recap:
Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Derek Ryan (Spokane, Wash.) both scored but the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team fell to Finland, 6-2, in its final preliminary round game of the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship. With a goal and an assist tonight, Kane has now set U.S. records for both points (17) and assists (11) in a single Men’s World Championship.
“I thought we came out and played good hockey at the start of the game before a few bounces didn’t go our way and that was the real difference,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We’ve said from the start that we want to learn and improve every game, and you can’t do that without facing some adversity. It’s important for us to learn from this and build as we turn our attention to Thursday and facing a real good Czech team.”
The United States (4-2-0-1/W-OTW-OTL-L), which finished second in Group B play, will meet the Czech Republic in Thursday’s (May 17) quarterfinals at a time yet to be determined. The game will be televised live on NHL Network.
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also filed a recap…
“We came out and played good hockey at the start of the game before a few bounces didn’t go our way and that was the real difference,” Blashill told reporters afterward. “We’ve said from the start that we want to learn and improve every game, and you can’t do that without facing some adversity.”
Team USA finished second in Group B play and will face the Czech Republic (6-1-0, 3 shootout victories) Thursday in a quarterfinal game at a time to be determined (it will be televised live by NHL Network).
“It’s important for us to learn from this and build as we turn our attention to Thursday and facing a real good Czech team,” Blashill said.
As did the Free Press’s Helene St. James…
USA’s Detroit Red Wings will appear in the quarterfinals of the World Championship, though the final tuneup was something of a dud.
The squad fell, 6-2, to Finland on Tuesday, losing for the first time in seven round-robin games at the tournament in Herning and Copenhagen, Denmark. That comes after the Jeff Blashill-coached team began the event with a victory over fellow Group B member Canada.
The Finns secured first place in Group B, while the U.S. will finish second. That pits the U.S. against the Czech Republic on Thursday. The Czechs feature a pair of Wings defense prospects in Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek.
MLive’s Ansar Khan filed a recap, too, and the IIHF’s website posted a highlight clip…
Minus 3 is an ugly stat line for Larkin. But a couple of those goals had nothing to do with him. I thought he played OK overall.