Team USA laid an egg today at the World Championship in Denmark, and said egg cost the Americans a chance to compete for gold.
Team USA lost 6-0 to Sweden on Saturday, and the Americans will now await the loser of the Canada-Switzerland game as they prepare to play for bronze tomorrow (9 AM EDT on the NHL Network/TSN).
The Americans just got out-skated, out-hustled and out-worked–and New Jersey Devils goaltender Keith Kincaid was significantly out-goaltended by Vancouver’s Anders Nilsson, who built a wall in the Swedish crease.
The Red Wings’ representatives had quiet games: Dylan Larkin (3 shots in 20:11, finished even) looked frustrated with his and his teammates’ play as he tried to do too much and over-complicated his game. He sure worked his ass off, but, like his teammates, he worked inefficiently (ending his game with a roughing penalty on Adrian Kempe):
The team’s collective tendency to look for the perfect shot, the perfect pass, the perfect zone entry…Team USA’s inability to keep things simple and play north-south hockey, combined with bad defensive coverage and sub-standard goaltending damned them (that’s a lot of factors, I know).
Nick Jensen (-2 in 9:15 played) also had a quiet game, though he almost snapped Nilsson’s shutout streak with about 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd period.
Gustav Nyquist’s main contribution (2 shots in 12:42, finished even) was a goaltender interference penalty in the 3rd period, but he was quite sound defensively on a line with Patric Hornqvist.
It was also somewhat frustrating to watch former Wings prospect and Dallas Stars forward Mattias Janmark score two goals for the Swedes; the Janmark-for-Cole and Jarnkrok-and-Eaves-for-Legwand trades still stick in my craw.
Anyway, I’ll post highlights and game recaps as they are available. Team USA’s inability to win a gold at the Worlds since 1933 is…quite the streak.
Update: IIHF.com’s highlights are available:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team outshot Sweden, 41-20, but fell in its semifinal game, 6-0, at the 2018 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship.
“Today’s outcome is disappointing, especially with how pleased we were of our play in the first and third periods,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team. “I thought our effort was there but Sweden was able to capitalize on special teams and that was the difference. Our guys know there’s still a medal at stake tomorrow so now it’s time to pick ourselves up and find a way to win a hockey game.”
The United States (5-2-0-2/W-OTW-OTL-L) will play in tomorrow’s (May 20) bronze medal game against the loser of tonight’s Canada-Switzerland semifinal. Puck drop is set for 3:45 p.m. local time (9:45 a.m. ET) in Copenhagen at Royal Arena and will be televised live on NHL Network.
And a post-game clip:
How did Jensen snap the shutout streak when the final score was 6-0?
you missed ‘almost’
Maybe it was edited later?
No your racist eyes just hinder your ability to read
George why is this biv guy allowed on here? This person brings zero substance to the conversation.
Hey d-dog. I asked him why he even bothers posting here? Nobody interacts with him. His insults don’t bother me. His posts are total nonsense. It’s comedy for me at this point.
giggle.
Fatty is lucky George is an enabler.
Hey Fatty. why even bothers posting here? Nobody interacts with you. your insults don’t bother me. your posts are total nonsense. It’s comedy for me at this point.
I would think that Sweden was a Big Fav before the start of the tournament. The USA had a good run but was not the Fav in this tournament.
Yes the Trades by the Wings are so one sided it makes me wonder how KH wiggled out of those brain farts. They are young (Swedes) and will continue to get better as their careers continue.
Canada or the Swiss vs Sweden, no contest vs Swedes, IMO (from a Canadian Fan).
The rumour was that Jim Nill wanted Jurco. But Kenny drives a hard bargain and convinced him to just take Janmark instead. Kenny gets top marks for talent evaluation. Just the guy we need for the rebuild.
Wow! so Nill swiped a guy who can score some goals in a worthless tournament. Good for him.
Swindling desperate GMs at the deadline.
“It was also somewhat frustrating to watch former Wings prospect and Dallas Stars forward Mattias Janmark score two goals for the Swedes; the Janmark-for-Cole and Jarnkrok-and-Eaves-for-Legwand trades still stick in my craw.”
Yes, me too regarding those trades.
How about watching Nosek play his 4th line role perfectly, at minimum wage…while we have Abby, Helm, Glendening making $10m. Ridiculous. Protect Nosek and expose Abby, who they wouldn’t have any interest in. But Abby has character…
oh man. Another 4th liner….I thought you didn’t care about players who aren’t elite talents? All of a sudden you are championing a 4th line guy who will likely be out of the NHL in, like, two seasons.
But, acorns can talk hockey……….I guess.
Oh I get it. I shared a story that my grandfather was a mean man who made racist comments…and now you are calling me an acorn. So clever. Yup. And calling George an enabler. Classy stuff.
Sorry, I thought you wanted to talk hockey? Don’t you want to talk about how worthless it is to think a player who will only see about 100 NHL games is?
Nope. You’d rather show your thin skin crying “foul” about your over sharing somehow being relevant and focusing on a term that you do not understand. I’m here to talk hockey, why aren’t you?
I’m glad to see Gus using his off season positively.