For the first time since 2007, Team Canada has won the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland.
On Monday, Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins, Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers and John Tavares of the New York Islanders were instrumental for Team Canada in a commanding 7-2 victory over the host HC Davos in the championship final.
Smyth, also known as Captain Canada and Tavares each scored twice, while Bergeron had a goal and three assists.
Smyth’s first goal of the game, at 9:07 of the first period was shorthanded and the game winning goal. Bergeron received the lone assist with brilliant stickhandling. Tavares
Other Canadian goal scorers were Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators and defenceman Derrick Walser.
After rather a slow start in the World Hockey Championships in Helsinki, Team Canada got back on track today with a huge 5-3 win over the host Finns.
This game was a tale of two separate games. Finland dominated the first half of the contest and Canada dominated the second half. The big difference? It was clearly Sherwood Park, Alberta’s Cam Ward who had 35 saves, and made some of the remarkable variety.
Offensively, Team Canada was led by Jeff Skinner, John Tavares and Duncan Keith who each had two points. Meanwhile, Winnipeg’s Evander Kane scored the game winning goal in the third period.
One area where Team Canada must improve is their special teams. Despite the 4-0-1 record (only loss came in overtime to the Americans last weekend), their penalty killing so far has been weak and their power play is disorganized. But what did a Brent Sutter coached team do on the power play all year this past season? Nothing! Sorry Flames fans.
Even though Team Canada will probably be in first place once the round robin finishes, don’t forget they finished in first place last year with an undefeated record and then lost to Russia in the quarterfinals.
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame – lots of overtime and lots of fighting to kick off the NHL playoffs, the Oilers win the draft lottery & discuss the future of their coach, the Maple Leafs apologize and a number of top players head to the World Championships. Also – the head of the MLB players union talks steroids and the Hall of Fame.
In the GABBYs: Martin Brodeur, Thierry Henry, the NFL, Lamar Odom, Lingerie Football and Dwyane Wade. The Punchline this week involves Augusta and an attempted cup of sand!
Well, 2011 ended with a bang and another round of filthy dangles and sweet snipes taking us into the New Year.
On this edition of the Goals of the Week, we’ve got a nifty backhander, some top corner magic, a couple of solid individual efforts and a passing play for the ages from a team we’re used to seeing it from!
Let’s go!
5. Alexander Semin
Alex Semin makes Marty Biron look like a backup goalie on this one, breaking in all alone and rifling a backhand shot past him with some authority!
(AFTER THE JUMP: The Rest of the Best from around the NHL!)
The Calgary Flames missed a glorious opportunity to get back into a playoff spot in the Western Conference on Thursday night.
The Flames in fact lost to the 29th ranked New York Islanders 3-1 in Uniondale. John Tavares scored the game winning goal for the Islanders at 3:04 of the third period.
Even though the Flames headed into tonight’s action on a four game winning streak, they shouldn’t be too pleased with not just tonight’s game but Tuesday’s as well. Forty-eight hours ago they needed a shootout winner from Jarome Iginla to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first time in three games this season. That means the Flames are 1-2-1 against the two worst teams in the NHL. If they miss the playoffs by a very slim margin, they will have to look back on their losses to Columbus and the New York Islanders as the primary reason.
The Flames are currently one point back of the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference with Dallas having two games in hand. The Flames continue their seven game road trip tomorrow night in Ottawa. So far they are 2-1 after their first three games.
Another week has come and gone in the NHL, which means another week’s worth of beauty snipes and sick dangles.
Last week’s big winner was Philly’s Claude Giroux – did he make the list again? Do any goals from the past seven days beat his opening night gino? Do we have any repeat offenders? This week’s top five starts off with the Battle of New York and a little Johnny T, and finishes with a beauty from Music City!
Let’s get to it!
5. John Tavares
John Tavares is off to a red-hot start this season, and his NY Islanders actually look like a team that might make some noise this season. Check out this sick connection between Mark Streit and Tavares in a win over the Rangers (starts at 0:12)! (Goals after the jump!) (more…)
Canada may not have played its best game at the World Hockey Championships, but at the end of the day, got the job done.
Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators, John Tavares of the New York Islanders and James Neal of the Pittsburgh Penguins scored for Canada Saturday morning in a 3-2 win over Norway at Kosice, Slovakia.
It was Canada’s fifth win of the tournament (third regulation win compared to two overtime wins).
A major reason for the Canadian success Saturday was that they were able to shut down Norway’s electrifying power play, which was number one in the tournament at 33.3%. Norway was zero for six with the man advantage.
Neal, Spezza and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets all had multi-point games for Canada. Neal and Spezza each had a goal and an assist, while Nash had two assists.
Jonathan Bernier of the Los Angeles Kings made 25 saves on 27 shots.
Canada next plays Monday against Sweden at 12pm MT (TSN).
Canada had a scare this morning, but for the second consecutive game at the World Hockey Championships, won the game in extra time.
Friday morning Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers and Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets scored in a shootout for Canada in a 4-3 win over the United States, as they improved to 1-2-0-0 in the tournament.
That’s one regulation win and two overtime wins now for Canada. A regulation win counts for three points in the standings versus only one point for an overtime win. The Canadian win against Belarus no longer counts because the Belarussians failed to advance to the second round.
Alex Pietrangelo (Bridget Samuels, Wikimedia Commons)
It might not have been the best Canadian performance at the World Hockey Championships in Slovakia, but the bottom line is Canada got the win.
And it was two St. Louis Blues that came up big. Chris Stewart scored the go-ahead goal with 3:14 left and Alex Pietrangelo scored the game winner with 46 seconds left in overtime as Canada defeated Switzerland 4-3. (The Swiss tied the score at three with 1:22 left in regulation).
After Switzerland took a 1-0 lead in the first period, Canada dominated the play in the second period and Switzerland dominated the play in the third period.
I felt after two games where Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs played very well, the Edmonton native and former Calgary Flame struggled mightily on Tuesday. First, the puck went off of his stick from a bad angled shot by Switzerland’s Raphael Diaz, that made the score 1-0. Then, he slashed Switzerland’s Matthias Bieber that led to an unsuccessful Swiss penalty shot in the third period. He did deliver a punishing body check during the game, but wasn’t consistent enough.
Canada improved to a perfect 2-0 this morning at the World Hockey Championships in Kosice, Slovakia.
Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes, the favourite for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, scored two goals and one assist as Canada defeated France 9-1.
Skinner, an 18 year-old native of Markham, Ontario, scored his second goal for Canada on a penalty shot.
Other Canadian players with multi-point games included Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators (one goal, one assist), Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets (one goal, one assist), Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues (one goal, one assist), John Tavares of the New York Islanders (two assists) and Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs (two assists).
James Reimer of the Toronto Maple Leafs was in net for the majority of the game, but left the game for Devan Dubnyk of the Edmonton Oilers when the score reached 7-1.
French goalie Cristobal Huet struggled between the pipes, and was pulled after the first period when the score was 3-0 Canada. The scouting report on Huet is that he is great down low, but struggles when shooters go high. That’s where Skinner and Buffalo’s Marc-Andre Gargnani scored on Huet in the opening twenty minutes.
Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers scored twice Friday afternoon as Team Canada defeated Team Belarus 4-1 at the World Hockey Championships in Kosice, Slovakia.
Eberle opened the scoring for Canada and then put the puck past Belarussian goaltender Andrei Mezin again in the third period.
Eberle was electric on the ice throughout the game. There was one shift where he delivered a remarkable pass to team captain Rick Nash, another shift where he drew a penalty which put Canada on the power play and another shift where he had a takeaway on a Belarussian offensive play involving Mikhail Grabovski of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It’s been a feisty couple of weeks in the National Hockey League, hasn’t it?
In the past ten days we’ve seen a brawl in Pittsburgh between the Islanders and the Penguins, three fights in four seconds in a Bruins/Stars game, another goalie fight in an Original Six meeting between Boston and Montreal, and of course, the return match between the Pens and the Isles.
If you thought those first three games were good, just wait until you see what went down at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Friday!
After being shutout in the game that saw Penguins backup Brent Johnson break the face of their oft-injured goalie, Rick DiPietro, the Islanders were charged up heading into the rematch! In the first period alone there were four goals, a failed penalty shot, two fights and some hints of what was to come later on.
By the end of the night there were 346 penalty minutes, fifteen fighting majors, eleven game misconducts, and ten 10-minute misconducts. Oh, and 12 goals. (more…)
Well, 2011 ended with a bang and another round of filthy dangles and sweet snipes taking us into the New Year.
It’s been a feisty couple of weeks in the National Hockey League, hasn’t it?
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