Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

USA Thumps Slovaks

February 12, 2014, 6:14 PM ET [96 Comments]
GARTH'S CORNER
NHL news by Garth • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Updated:


Talk about a coincidence. Colrado Avs center Paul Stastny scored two goals to pace the Americans in their 7-1 drubbing the Slovaks in game one of the preliminary round for each country at the Sochi games. Stastny’s father, Peter, and his two uncles Anton and Marion (formerly of the Quebec Nordiques) are considered hockey royalty in their home land of Slovakia. Weird move spanking Slovakia, eh, Paul?

"It’s always special playing against Slovakia," Stastny told the IIHF website. "I always know family back home is watching, and my parents always watch no matter what. I’ve never beaten these guys, so it was nice to get it on my third try on the most important stage."

The Slovaks had no answer for the use speed and skill. Phil Kessel scored a goal and assisted on two others. John Carlson and Ryan Kesler both had a goal and an assist, and David Backes and Dustin Brown also scored for Team USA. JVR, T.J. Oshie, and Patrick Kane added a pair of helpers apiece in the decisive win.

USA bench boss Dan Bylsma refused to announce his starting goalie for Saturday’s alley fight with the host Russians. Quick earned the win over Slovia so th net is now his for Russia, right? Bylsma’s not talking about it.

"It’s our first game at the Olympics and I certainly liked how we played this game," Bylsma said. "We responded when they scored and came with six unanswered goals. The line of Paul Stastny, T.J. Oshie and Max Pacioretty did not only find their way on the scoresheet, they did positive work in general. They were possibly our strongest line tonight."

Slovakia entered the game with a puncher’s chance of beating the Americans. It would have taken a masterpiece in all three phases to beat Team USA. Defensively the Slovak forwards and D played very well positionally in the first period, however, the ugly second period undermined any chance of competing with the Americans in the third period. Jaro Halak was pulled from the Slovakian net and Peter Budaj brought his mop and bucket to the crease to end the game.


Slovakian captain Zdeno Chara blamed sloppy D-zone coverage for the loss.

"Obviously we would be a better team with these guys, but injuries do happen and it’s tough to replace guys of that caliber," said Slovak captain Zdeno Chara. "[We didn't lose] because of that. We lost coverage and people around the net, and they scored a lot of goals."

**

Next up for Team USA will be the host Russians on Saturday.

Stastny looks forward to playing Ovechkin and the Russians.

"Any time you play a host country that’s such a powerhouse, with such dedication and such passionate fans, this is their most important tournament," said Stastny. "We did this against Canada and now we get to play Russia at home. You’ve just got to go with it. It’ll be an exciting time, and we’ll see where we stack up against one of the favourites”.


More to come on the matter of whether Bylsma will start Miller or Quick on Saturday vs.Russsia.

Bylsma told NBC Sportsthat he has a lot of respect for Russia.


“Their team is very talented,” said Bylsma, “maybe the most talented in the tournament, with some of the star players they have. Evgeni Malkin, I’ve seen him do things that I don’t know what he’s going to do next, and how he does it offensively and with the puck.

“So to have a game plan, or to tell someone what to expect, you might have to expect the unexpected against a player of that ilk, how talented he is. … It’s not just going to be one or two players on their team that we have to be concerned with. We may have a little more information on how to get to Evgeni Malkin, but I’m not sure it’s going to be the full story.”




Bylsma and his coaches have to game planning to do.

Who will they start in net?




_______________________________________________________________________



Zdeno Chara would like nothing more than to slay a few dragons at the Sochi Olympics. Chara and Team Slovakia have earned their pain-in-the-ass-to-play-against reputation in recent years at international ice hockey tournaments.

Case in point, Vancouver 2010. The Slovaks slapped Russia in group play and then beat Sweden in the quarterfinals. Chara won't allow his team to be a punching bag for the "elite" teams at Sochi.

"I don't think we will ever be among the favorites," captain Zdeno Chara told the IIHF on Monday.

"We won't go into the World Championships or into any kind of tournaments as a favorite. But we do have potential and when we play as a team, as we have shown before, we can be a very strong team. But honestly, to predict who will win or even who will be the toughest team to beat is hard."

Dan Bylsma and his coaching staff better make sure to feed their boys copious amounts of Wheaties on Thursday morning because they are going to have their work cut out for them against Slovakia. One slip up on the huge ice against an oppressive opponent like the Slovaks will no doubt undermine Team USA in pool play. A USA loss to the Slovaks would create a must-win on Saturday against the fuel-injected Russians who are looking to win the gold medal on their home soil as Canada had done at the Vancouver games in 2010.

Goaltending will determine the winner in this game.

Quick vs. Halak.

Save your fancy NHL stats and your Kings vs. Blues head to head comparisons. Halak has international ice hockey experience. Quick doesn't. Quick didn't see the ice in Vancouver as he sat behind back-up Tim Thomas and starter Ryan Miller.

Halak is a veteran of international ice hockey competition, having played in three IIHF World Championships, and in the 2010 Vancouver games.

In 2006-07 Halak played two games at the World Championships and put forth respectable 2.52 GAA and .903 save %. In 2008-09, he played 4 games at The Worlds and delivered a 3.17 GAA and .872 save %.At the Vancouver Olympics, Halak stood tall in seven games played. He finished the tourney with a 2.41 GAA and .911 save %. At the 2010-11 Worlds, he played 6 games and ended the tourney with a 2.54 GAA and .909 save %.

Experience matters at international ice hockey competitions. If this tournament were played on an NHL ice surface (200 by 85), I'd have no problem with Quick as a starter for game one against the Slovaks. The international sheet adds other elements of intrigue that all players must learn to deal with. Trust me when I tell you that the Slovaks are going to storm out of the gates on the first shift and they are going to put heavy pressure on Halak and the USA D by taking shots from all angles, and driving pucks to the blue ice at every opportunity.

Quick has a big fat goose egg in his TOI column. Were I Dan Bylsma, I would have given the USA net to Ryan Miller for two reasons: Miller has international experience having created an impressive body of work at the Vancouver games. Also, Miller faces Chara, Sekera and many of the Slovak bombers head-to-head every season. Familiarity breeds contempt. Miller has the ability to get into Chara's head during emotional games. Miller has a book on Chara, the same way he has a running book on Alex Ovechkin.


I giving the advantage in the first preliminary game to Halak.

If I'm Bylsma, I'm telling Quick to stay in his crease and not to come out of the net to set up pucks for D and forwards behind his own net like he does habitually in the NHL. Quick will lose his net in a hurry if he drifts and cannot find his focal points and angles on the wider ice while he's scrambling to get back into his set position.





__________________________________________________________________________




Thanks, Dan Hickling

Team Latvia head coach Ted Nolan and power center Zemgus Girgensons must feel like their preliminary round game against the Swiss was a game that they had played earlier this season with their Buffalo Sabres. The game had all of the elements to qualify as a 2013-14 Buffalo Sabres NHL game: the opponent held the puck for what seemed like an eternity, there were low chances to get shots on the enemy net, and their goaltender had to play his butt off in order to keep his team in the game. The Swiss controlled play and ate up valuable time off the regulation clock as the Latvians held on for dear life to stem the flow of momentum. The Swiss barraged Latvian goalie Edgars Masalskis with 39 shots. He made 38 beautiful saves. Masalskis was brilliant in his net and had an answer for each and every Swiss chance, however, with just 7.9 ticks left on the game clock, a Nino Niederreiter pass kissed off Latvian D Georgijs Pujacs and found the back of the net. Simon Moser was given credit for the game-winning goal.

Deja vu.

Afterwards, the Latvians were crushed by their lack of puck luck.


“Brutal — that’s a tough one to swallow,” Buffalo Sabres and Latvian forward Zemgus Girgensons told Kevin Oklobzija of the Rochester D and C.





Latvia suffered a broken heart hours before St. Valentines Day.


"I just tried to get it deep and I saw Niederreiter pressuring the net," the goal scorer said. "I just threw it in front and luckily it went in. I didn't really see how it got there, I just tried to the throw the puck."

"It wasn't so hard to adjust to the game," he said. "I trained a lot for this game, and the only problem was that it was so hot out there. It's a lot time since I've played in such a warm arena and that was physically tough."


Despite the defeat, Masalskis loved his team’s tenacity and compete level against the Swiss:

"I don't think there's anything to worry about - we played quite well and we showed a bit of what we can do. We hit the post but we didn't get any luck. Now we just have to keep going."


***


Stop back later and I'll share my thoughts on the high risk maneuver of Team USA leaning on Jonathon Quick and not playing Ryan Miller against the rigid Slovaks on Thursday morning.


***
Join the Discussion: » 96 Comments » Post New Comment
More from GARTH'S CORNER
» Hailing Taxis
» He With The Gold Makes The Rules
» Sedentary Seven
» The Sedentary Seven
» GadZuccs