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Canada Hurdles Past Biggest Obstacle |
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Team Canada is on to the finals after defeating Russia 5-3. The semi-final game for Canada was the biggest hurdle to winning the tournament in my opinion. Being the better team doesn't automatically guarantee victory on any given night. The 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings didn't go undefeated. A single elimination game was always going to be Canada's biggest threat because anything can happen in a single game. For Canada to lose the tournament they will now need to lose two out of three games. It could happen but it is less likely than losing a single game. By increasing the sample size of games Canada decreases their risk of losing.
Russia played Canada close for a while and even put quite the scare into the Canadian faithful at the ACC when they took a 2-1 lead. The lead didn't last long. Only 1:12 after Evgeny Kutznetsov expertly batted the puck out of the air for Russia's second goal Brad Marchand took a perfect Sidney Crosby pass on the back door to tie the game up before the conclusion of the second period.
The Crosby, Bergeron, Marchand line was an unstoppable force. They combined for three goals and four assists on the evening. Sidney Crosby was at the center of it all. He opened the scoring with relentless puck pursuit which led to a very costly Russian turnover. Ref cam + Sid = awesome
Normal view is pretty good too
That play sums up Crosby as a hockey player. He does it all.
Crosby is leading the World Cup of Hockey in scoring. He has three goals and seven points in four games.
John Tavares scored a very aesthetically pleasing goal in third period.
The patience and ability to change up his shooting angle while hitting a very precise target was beautiful to watch. Also underrated part of the play is Ryan Getzlaf's interference with the Russian defender. It's a fine line on whether or not you can get called for a penalty on that kind of pick, but Getzlaf was careful not to initiate the contact. He is allowed his space on the ice and defender did a poor job of not recognizing what had happened.
This is Canada's 23rd consecutive win with Sidney Crosby in the lineup. They will look to make it 24 when Canada faces the winner of Sweden and Team Europe in a best of three series.
Thanks for reading!
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