Finland 5, Belarus 1
Belarus is missing their top two scorers from this competition, but they still seem a cut above Norway and Latvia. Or maybe half a cut above. Sergei Kostitsyn–Sergei of the Habs’ doghouse–puts one in, but Finland has what is a scoring outburst for them: five goals. Smooth looking goal by Hagman, wonderful mid-air redirect by Jarkko Ruutu (man, is he a beat up looking dude!) But the most important thing you wanted to see from Suomi was great team defense, and that’s what you got. Only 12 shots against and many of those came late; Finland allowed an incredible 4 SOGA through two periods. Watching the interviews of Saku Koivu and Jarkko Ruutu after the game, you have this takeaway: Man, these guys seem focused. Watch out.
Sweden 2, Germany 0
The talking heads are correct that this game could’ve been 1-1 really easily, so maybe my perception is wrong – because it seemed like the Triple Crowns played the intelligent, smooth, all-around game you’ve come to expect from them. Their second goal was perfection for how forwards should work together: Alfredsson grinding to cause the turnover, Backstrom using great playmaking skills, Eriksson in position to finish. Lundqvist sharp – How is it possible that the Swedes haven’t had a shutout since 1994? Finland had five in Torino! Shows what that’s worth. A lot of varying opinions on Forsberg. I’ll take the middle ground: he looked like he belonged, but without any significant impact. Expect quality third line type play. Intriguing line of Zetterberg, Hornqvist and Forsberg. In any case, Germany was a quality opponent; take that into account before bashing Sverige. We’ll know more when we see how Finland does with Germany and how Sweden does with Belarus.
Czech Republic 3, Slovakia 1
Of course Marian Gaborik was playing! Come on guys, this is a major rivalry – on top of the fact that the Olympics are a big deal to the players (Mr. Bettman: please take notice). If you read my “Gaborik will be MVP” piece for ESPN Insider a couple of months ago, you’d know that Gaborik isn’t soft, he’s had hip problems that were never properly diagnosed and fixed in the past. On the Czech side, Patrik Elias is a quality player. If he’s healthy enough to be in the lineup, he can play for my team any day. Vokoun’s big time too. Czechs up 1-0 at the end of one period.
Gaborik lining up with Marian Hossa to start the second period paid off immediate dividends. Sick, quick release and accuracy for the Rangers’ winger. No one – no one in the sport lets it go as quick and accurate. 1-1 and it’s a helluva game. From there on, Slovakia was their own worst enemy, taking too many penalties. The killer was a pointless, childish retaliatory penalty by captain Chara after the team was already tired from having been on the PK. The final dagger in the second was a nifty finish by Canadiens’ breakout player Tomas Plekanec. A super game–what we’ve built this tournament up to be–with the Slovaks actually having the best of SOG went to the Czechs mainly due to bad decisions in the middle stanza. It’s going to be tough for the Slovaks to bounce back tonight against the Russians; the ramification going forward is a tougher secondary round matchup, likely against a team like Germany or Switzerland.