Keith Kinkaid (Farmingville, N.Y.) made 20 saves in the shutout.
The U.S. will return to action Monday (May 7) against Germany at 4:15 p.m. local time/10:15 a.m. ET. That game, along with all U.S. Men’s World Championship games, will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
The IIHF’s YouTube channel also posted a highlight clip:
The Detroit Red Wings’ amateur and pro scouts are meeting in Detroit this weekend and upcoming week to map out a master plan for the draft and free agency (in terms of both which players the team will re-sign and which players the team will target come July 1st).
General manger Ken Holland and director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright are among the dozen hockey operations personnel immersed in five days of meetings that began Saturday as the Wings prepare for the 2018 NHL entry draft.
“We’ll talk about all the leagues, all the players, come up with some lists and rankings and then go into the combine,” Holland said. “Then we’ll have all our area scouts continue to gather information and interview people about the players who are in their areas. Then the combine is an opportunity to choose who to interview among around 100 players. It all leads to Dallas.”
The Wings hold 11 picks at the June 22-23 event at American Airlines Center. Their first is at sixth overall, and there’ll be three more within the top 36 selections: Las Vegas’ first-round pick from the Tomas Tatar trade, Ottawa’s second round pick (32nd overall) from the Brendan Smith trade (via the New York Rangers) and the Wings’ own second-round pick.
The Wings need a high-end defense prospect, but the first pick won’t come down to position.
“At sixth, we’ll look for the best available player, the one we believe will make the biggest impact on our team,” Holland said. “But certainly, we’re trying to build a defense over time through the draft.”
According to the Free Press’s Helene St. James, the Red Wings are going to sign David Pope soon. Pope has been finishing up his degree at the University of Nebraska-Omaha after a superb senior NCAA season:
The Detroit Red Wings are closing in on a deal with prospect David Pope.
Pope, 23, was drafted by the Wings at 109th overall in 2013. He just finished his senior year at University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he had career highs with 20 goals, 21 assists and 41 points in 39 games.
Pope, 23, is 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. He has good offensive instincts and soft hands, and knows how to get open away from play.
He could sign a two-year entry level contract within the next few days. Negotiations were on hold while Pope finished his classes.
Hockey fans saw Givani Smith flash his middle finger at the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds bench.
What they didn’t see were the racial slurs, threats and abuse that the Kitchener Rangers winger, who is Black, endured before and after the incident.
Video of Smith’s outburst went viral in hockey circles.
The footage showed him flipping the bird to Soo players just after the Rangers extended their playoff lives with an emotional 4-3 overtime victory against the Greyhounds in Game 6 of their Ontario Hockey League western conference final this past Sunday.
The 20-year-old was suspended for two games by the OHL for making “an inappropriate gesture” and had to watch the Rangers’ season end in double overtime from the press box Monday in the Soo.
The incident sparked a series of racially charged comments on social media. Some called the Toronto native a “coward” and a “douche bag” while others stooped lower.
According to a report by TheRecord.com, Smith, 20, who is black, was the victim of racial slurs from Greyhounds fans, and there were allegations that Sault Ste. Marie players were involved as well.
“Before we went up to the Soo there were racial things in his inbox on social media,” Rangers general manager Mike McKenzie told Josh Brown of TheRecord.com. “It was pretty disgusting to see some of the stuff that he had to deal with.”
A photo of Smith with the words “Hockey N—–” written under it, was sent to Smith’s Facebook page.
There was also an episode earlier in the season in Sarnia where Smith was accosted with racial epithets.
“We had an incident during the regular season where a fan somehow got access to our tunnel,” McKenzie said. “It was a game where he (Smith) had been sent to the room early because he had a misconduct. The fan poked his head in and yelled a racial slur down the hall. I’m not going to repeat it but it wasn’t good.”
Greyhounds GM Kyle Raftis insisted he was unaware of any racial slurs committed by his players, and Raftis worked with the OHL to set up additional security for Smith and the Rangers, which included a police escort for the team bus to Game 7 in the Soo.
“Nobody from any walk of life should have to go through that,” Raftis said of the racial slurs.
The Rangers needed a police escort from the Soo airport to their Sault Ste. Marie hotel, and from the hotel to the arena for Game 7.
Smith watched Game 7 from the press box with a security guard at the door.
“We took the step to provide security over and above what we would normally do for a game,” David Branch, OHL commissioner, told The Record. “We wanted to make sure Givani was comfortable and certainly hopefully free from any challenge or issue.”
The Toledo Walleye hoped to place a stranglehold upon their second-round series with the Fort Wayne Komets, and instead, they laid an egg on Friday, losing 3-1 in Fort Wayne.
Mike Embach scored for Toledo, and Pat Nagle stopped 22 of 25 shots, but the Walleye are now tied 2-2 with Fort Wayne heading into what will likely be a 6 or 7-game series.
Despite the sea of yellow all around, Belarus made a bright start and Hellberg did well to stop an early breakaway effort from Geoff Platt. But that was as good as it got for Dave Lewis and his team as Sweden took complete control midway through the opening period.
The opening goal went to Andersson, but it was Adrian Kempe’s delicious little backhand pass that wrongfooted the entire Belarusian defence. After that, Andersson drove to the net and beat Ivan Kulbakov up close. Within half a minute, Sweden had doubled its advantage. John Klingberg’s dot-to-dot pass found Nyquist and his one-timer flew into the top corner.
“You know what? We played all right,” Nyquist said. “We took a couple too many penalties out there, but the PK did a good job, and our goalie was great in net. So nice to get five [goals], for sure, and a good start to the tournament. It was a lot of fun to see all the Swedish fans here. That gave us a lot of energy.”
DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner filed a “By the Numbers” report on Red Wings goaltending prospect Filip Larsson, who was named the USHL’s Goaltender of the Year for his 2017-18 season performance with the Tri-City Storm.
Quotable: “As far as our organization, where he stands is he is right at the top of the pecking order of prospects that are not signed right now. He adds minor league depth with NHL potential. You don’t want to rush these guys just because they had a big year. We’ll see what happens over the next one to two years of evaluation from our standpoint. Filip is a very good blocking goalie; from the face-off dots on to the goal line he covers space effectively into his posts and he’s very calm. He plays a pretty conservative game and we’d like to see him get a little more depth in that situation. Like (the New York Rangers’) Henrik Lundqvist, he commands his net very well. Ultimately what you’ll see is his patience in the net itself, absorbing rebounds, which is a huge thing. He’s going to be a very good pro because he studies the game so well. We’ll see what the future holds for Filip Larsson, but from what we see he’s in good hands and in a good mindset going to Denver and what I see is someone who has that potential to possibly crack an NHL lineup for Detroit someday.” – Brian Mahoney-Wilson, Red Wings goaltending development coach
Sales of the seats from to-be-demolished Joe Louis Arena have reached into the “low thousands” since the online auction went live Tuesday.
The sale is limited for now to Detroit Red Wings season ticket holders, who can request their former seats at the arena. The general public can buy seats beginning May 12, and about 16,000 seats in total are being made available ranging in price from $150 to $350.
City-owned Joe Louis Arena was home to the Wings from 1979 until last year, when the team relocated to new Little Caesars Arena. The old arena will be razed and the site redeveloped.
Detroit’s building authority hired Byron Center-based appraisal and auction firm Miedema Asset Management Group Inc. and Bloomfield Hills-based industrial asset auctioneer Robert Levy Associates LLC to handle the direct sale of the seats and fixtures.
Levy estimated that the Red Wings had about 7,000 season ticket holders eligible to buy seats. He didn’t have a specific seat sale total as of Friday morning.
“Seat sales are above expectations. We’re very pleased,” Levy said. “I’m hopeful we’re going to sell them all.”
[T]he Americans were fortunate to get to the shootout. The five-minute overtime was dominated by Canada, which won all five faceoffs and controlled the puck virtually from start to finish. Connor McDavid, the best player on the ice, created several chances and drew a penalty, but he couldn’t create the winning goal.
Then, with only a few seconds left, he incurred a penalty, thus eliminating himself from the shootout.
As in the entire game, the Americans proved resilient. They improved after a terrible first period to rally, then take the lead twice. Goalie Keith Kinkaid was by turns excellent and reliable.
“Early in the gave wasn’t so great,” offered winning coach Jeff Blashill. “Keith (Kincaid) kept us in the game. I thought we got better as the time went along. Taking nothing away from our other guys, I thought in the end Keith was our best player.”
“This was a great way to kick off the tournament,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We started a little slow, but I think once we got our feet under us we proved we could compete. There were some great performances by our guys tonight and we’ll look to build on this as we move forward.”
The U.S. will return to action tomorrow (May 5) against Denmark at 8:15 p.m. local time /2:15 p.m. ET. That game, along with all U.S. Men’s World Championship games, will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
USA Hockey’s website also posted a highlight clip and an interview clip:
Canada blew an early 2-0 lead. Pierre-Luc Dubois didn’t waste time and swept the puck high past goalie Keith Kinkaid 47 seconds into the first period.
Ryan O’Reilly doubled the lead with 7:37 left in the period, then Andres Lee pulled one back for the U.S. with a wristed shot.
Larkin tied the score 43 seconds into the second, knocking in a backhand pass from Chris Kreider.
“We had a sloppy first period but Keith was unbelievable tonight,” Larkin said. “We’re gonna need him through the tournament to play like that.”
Kinkaid made 40 saves as Canada outshot the U.S. 44-25.
“After the first, we settled in and it was nice to get tied up and to get a lead. And he did the rest,” Larkin said.
Midway through the second, forward Johnny Gaudreau scored after Kane fed him a cross to put the U.S. 3-2 ahead. Anthony Beauvillier answered for Canada on a rebound.
Larkin added his second 3:27 into the final period for the 4-3 lead.
Larkin snapped a 3-3 tie Friday at 3 minutes 27 seconds of the third period, his second goal of the game. Chris Kreider made a nice backhand pass to Larkin driving to the net, and Larkin beat Canadian goalie Darcy Kuemper blocker side.
Larkin tied the game at 2 in the second period, with Kreider and Jordan Oesterle (Dearborn Heights/Chicago Blackhawks) assisting.
Kreider found Larkin alone near the post during a scramble, and Larkin tapped the puck past a sprawling Kuemper 43 seconds into the period.
Johnny Gaudreau and Anders Lee had the other USA goals, while Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills/Blackhawks) had an assist.
Pierre-Luc DuBois, Ryan O’Reilly, Anthony Beauvillier and Colton Parayko had Canada goals.
Larkin pulled the U.S. even at 2 midway through the second period, and gave the U.S. a 4-3 lead early in the third period of the game at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark.
Jeff Blashill, head coach of the Red Wings and making his second appearance as head coach of the U.S. at worlds, tapped Larkin to go in round five of the shootout, but Larkin’s attempt was saved by goaltender Darcy Kuemper.
Larkin already has as many goals as he did in eight games at the 2017 World Championship.
Larkin scored a pair of goals Friday and Cam Atkinson (Columbus) scored twice in the shootout to lead the United States past Canada 5-4 in the tournament opener at Herning, Denmark.
U.S. goaltender Keith Kinkaid (New Jersey) was named player of the game after making 40 saves in regulation and overtime and stopping 5-of-6 shooters in the shootout.
Atkinson scored both shootout goals for the U.S., including the winner on the sixth attempt against Darcy Kuemper (Arizona).
Larkin scored his second goal of the game at 3:27 of the third period to snap a 3-3 tie. Larkin used a burst of speed to drive to the net and convert a pass from Chris Kreider (two assists).
