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The Triumph for Europe Continues |
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Bovada had Team Europe as a +3300 to win the World Cup of Hockey.
Now they are in the finals, setting up a David versus Goliath three game set to decide which team will reign supreme in the rebirthed World Cup of Hockey.
Sunday, Team Sweden came in as favorites to take on the awaiting Team Canada in the finals, but it was Team Europe who again relied on its veteran heavy lineup and another unworldly performances from Jaroslav Halak. Backed by huge goaltending and boosted by a two-goal performance from Detroit's Tomas Tatar, the Europeans knocked out Sweden in overtime 3-2.
Marian Gaborik also added a goal, and the Europe penalty kill went 3-for-3 to bring their tournament total to 14-for-15.
After a feeling out process in the first period, where Europe mustered just five shots on Henrik Lundqvist, they started feeling their way into the game after Nick Backstrom scored for Sweden to open up the second period. After a series of powerplays in which Europe failed to convert on, the team seemed to get their feel for the game for a small bit. Gaborik scored late in the 2nd off a razor accurate feed from former teammate Christian Ehrhoff as play slightly shifted in favor of Europe. The worrying goal for Sweden came in the opening seconds of the third, as Tomas Tatar put Europe up 2-1.
But the Swedes ultimately stormed back to dominate the majority of the third period as Europe went into a shell. The besieged Jaro Halak faced 17 of his 39 shots against in the third period as Europe clung to a one-goal lead. Finally the Swedes broke fortress Europe (AKA Halak), with just under five minutes to go as Erik Karlsson tied things up.
However, all it took was a bit of a broken play/Lundqvist mishandle that sent Europe into the finals. Sweden's Lundqvist never seemed settled as he failed to stop Team Europe's dump in/rim around, and Mats Zucarello made the penultimate feed to the front for Detroit's Tomas Tatar to tuck home his second.
After a momentary review to decide whether or not the puck had been turned in via skate, the goal stood, and Europe celebrated in true European style.
Altogether, it was a fairly dominant game by Sweden through two of the three regular session periods, but some opportunistic goals from Europe seemed to be their undoing. Sweden dominated the corsi count by a score of 76 to 39 at even strength overall.
It was, again, a bend but not break style of game for Europe. While they put forth 30+ shots of their own, they endured a heavy onslaught in the late stages of the game. Without Jaroslav Halak it is hard to say where Europe would be in this tournament. The Islanders goalie has faced 150 shots overall, saving 142 of those for a sparkling .947 save percentage. While Carey Price's .948 is equally impressive he has faced around 50 shots fewer than Halak.
Tomas Tatar, who has been a Swede killer in this tournament, has four points and three goals in the tournament (Prelims included) all against Team Sweden.
Europe got an incredibly performance from the Vancouver line of the Sedin's and Loui Eriksson, particularly against Europe's second line of Frans Nielsen, Marian Gaborik, and Mats Zucarello. The Sedin's dominated with a massive +14 corsi against the European second line. But Europe was against stabilized overall by their first line of Kopitar/Hossa/Tatar, and their bright and energetic young 4th line of Draisaitl, Niederreiter and Reider. Sweden failed to get much from their bottom six, but their top lines were absolutely dominant through most of the game, they just could not solve Jaroslav Halak.
Europe now moves on to face Canada in a best of three set. The last time these two met, Europe was touched up for four goals by Canada as they cruised to a 4-1 victory. However, as we have seen before with Team Europe, they seem to revel in the idea of being the underdogs and giant killers of this tournament. While the task of taking down the Canadians in a two out of three format on home ice seems almost impossible, nothing actually seems too impossible for this veteran filled European squad. Defying expectations and odds seems to be the speciality of this team. Can they do it yet again? Their work is certainly cut out for them, but they are playing with house money at this point. The final series starts Tuesday, with Game 2 coming Thursday and Game 3 if necessary coming Saturday.
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