Two of the five Flyers Olympians were in action on the first day of the preliminary round in Sochi. The other three will play tomorrow.
SWEDEN 4 - CZECH REPUBLIC 2
Team Sweden dominated the first 25 minutes of the game in all three zones. Once the Swedes jumped out to a 4-0 lead, they shut down the engines a bit and got sloppy both with and away from the puck. The Czechs crawled back into the game, cutting the deficit in half by the end of the second period. The Czech team had a chance to draw closer with a couple of power play chances in the third period but were unable to solve Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) again.
Flyers right winger
Jakub Voracek was one of the few Czech players who was able to create anything in the early stages of the game, generating three of his four shots on goal for the game in the first period. He finished the game without a point.
Former Flyers right winger and future Hall of Fame shoo-in Jaromir Jagr scored the second Czech goal in the second period. Jagr shoveled a one-handed shot from in close that got past Lundqvist. The Swedes complained that crease interference by Tomas Plekanec should have caused a disallowed goal, but the goal stood.
Jakub Kovar, whose NHL rights still belong to the Flyers, started in goal for the Czechs. He was pulled after Henrik Zetterberg scored from distance to make it a 3-0 game at the 50-second mark of the middle period. Kovar stopped 7 of 10 shots before being pulled.
The 25-year-old Kovar has had a tremendous season in the KHL this season for Yekaterinburg and has emerged in recent years as one of the better goalies in Europe. He had a rough outing today, though, looking very small in his net. Side not: the goaltender's surname, which is pronounced Koh-vash (similar to former NHLers Karel Pilar and Stanislav Neckar), was mispronounced throughout the game by the NBC announcers.
After Kovar was pulled, SKA St. Petersburg goaltender Alexander Salak came in for the rest of the game. He yielded a heavily screened power play blast by Erik Karlsson on the first shot he saw, but was not beaten again on the next 14 shots he faced.
The Czechs outshot the Swedes by a 22-16 margin over the final 40 minutes of the game, but the Swedes preserved their lead without ever being in major trouble of the Czechs coming all the way back in the game.
SWITZERLAND 1 - LATVIA 0
It took 59 minutes and 52 seconds, but Team Switzerland scratched out the one goal they needed to skate off with a 1-0 regulation win over Ted Nolan's hard-working Latvian team.
Flyers defenseman
Mark Streit led the Swiss team with 22:58 of ice time. He assisted on Simon Moser's game-winning goal with eight seconds left in regulation. Jonas Hiller turned back all 21 shots he faced.
Latvian goalie Edgars Masalskis was a busy man throughout the game, stopped 38 of 39 shots fired at his net by the defending IIHF World Championship silver medalists. Former Flyers defenseman Oskars Bartulis had a strong game on the Latvian blueline, logging a team-high 22:54 and moving the puck effectively.
TOMORROW'S GAMES (TIMES IN EST)
Finland (
Kimmo Timonen) vs. Austria (
Michael Raffl): 3:00 a.m. (NBCSN)
USA vs. Slovakia (
Andrej Meszaros): 7:30 a.m. (NBCSN)
Canada vs. Norway: Noon (USA)
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