WEDNESDAY ROUNDUP: FLYERS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The preliminary round portion of the 2013 IIHF World Championships in Helsinki and Stockholm are now complete. Single-elimination medal round play begins tomorrow, with two quarterfinal games apiece taking place at Hartwall Arena and The Globe.

* In yesterday's most important game, Team Czech Republic entered the day needing a head-to-head win over Norway to leapfrog the Norwegians in the standings on earn a spot in the medal round. The Czechs churned out, by far, their best 60-minute effort of the tourney, steamrolling the Norwegians by a 7-0 count.

Flyers forward Jakub Voracek contributed one assist to the slaughter. Tomas Fleischmann notched two goals, while Martin Hanzal, Jiri Tlusty, Radim Vrbata, Zbynek Michalek and Zbynek Irgl had one goal apiece. Hanzal's tally came directly off the rebound of an initial Voracek shot.

Montreal Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec racked up three assists to earn Best Player honors for his team. Goaltenders Ondrej Pavelec (11 saves in 53:32) and Pavel Francouz (6 saves in 6:28) combined for the shutout.

The other important game yesterday saw Team USA lose out on its bid for first place in its preliminary round division, getting outworked by a hungrier Slovakia team that needed a win to get into the quarterfinals. The final score was 4-1. Danny Kristo, assisted by former Flyers defenseman Matt Carle, had the lone US goal. Phantoms goaltender Cal Heeter, as usual, was scratched as the third goalie. Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop took the loss in net.

Team Sweden's game against Scandinavian neighbor Denmark was basically a medal round tuneup for Tre Kronor to create some new lines after the arrival of Vancouver Canucks Daniel and Henrik Sedin and defenseman Alexander Edler. For the Danes, the game was a nothing-to-lose chance to finish the tournament feeling like they won their most winnable games (Belarus and Slovenia) and hung tough against everyone else.

Denmark put up valiant efforts in losses to Canada (3-1 loss after leading at 1st intermisson), arch-rival Norway (a disappointing 3-2 loss in regulation), Switzerland (4-1 after being a 2-1 game for two-plus periods) and especially the Czechs (2-1 loss via shootout). They did the same in yesterday's 4-2 loss to Sweden.

Denmark actually led the game 1-0 at the first intermission and 2-1 after the second stanza. It was only then that the Swedes buckled down, exploding for three unanswered goals in the opening 10:45 of the final period.

Ultimately, Tre Kronor's new top line (the Sedin twins with Loui Eriksson) and overall depth was a little too much to handle for 60 minutes. Daniel Sedin got the Swedes on the board in the middle period, assisted by Henrik and Eriksson. Henrik re-tied the game at 2-2 in the opening minute of the third period, assisted by Eriksson and Daniel. Less than a minute after Henrik Sedin tied the game at 2-2, Martin Thornberg scored the first of his two goals to put the Swedes ahead.

As expected, Flyers defenseman Erik Gustafsson gave way to Edler as the Swedish player logging the most ice time in yesterday's game. Even so, Gus still played a healthy 20:33 and continued his tournament-long streak of having not been on the ice for any opposition even-strength goals (he was out for a Steven Stamkos power play goal in Sweden's loss to Canada).

Flyers defenseman Oliver Lauridsen dressed in all seven of Denmark's games, despite suffering a left hip flexor strain and having to exit Saturday's game early in the second period. Yesterday, he skated 23:43, second only to Dallas defenseman Philip Larsen. Overall, Lauridsen finished the tourney with an average 18:58 of ice time (he only played 6:15 in the game he got injured), six penalty minutes, six shots on goal and an even plus-minus rating in seven games.

Team Germany closed out its tournament participation yesterday with a 3-2 shootout win over France. Phantoms forward Marcel Noebels was a healthy scratch despite playing well in the previous game. Noebels received very limited ice time in his first two appearances in the tournament but skated over 13 minutes in his third game.


QUARTERFINALS PREVIEW

The four quarterfinal games tomorrow are set as follows:

1. USA vs. Russia (6 AM EDT): It is unfortunate that few people in the States will be able to watch -- or care about missing -- the early morning broadcast on NBC Sports Network.

Yesterday's loss to Slovakia aside, the Americans have played an impressive tournament with a roster largely comprised of NHL role players and players suiting up for clubs overseas. The preliminary round game between USA and Russia was a seesaw affair for two-plus periods before the Russians finally took control and won by a 5-3 score.

Flyers netminder Ilya Bryzgalov got the start for Russia against Team USA. He was adequate in that game -- neither stellar nor awful -- but outplayed U.S. counterpart Bishop. Bryzgalov allowed one questionable goal among the three he yielded, while two of the five that got past Bishop looked stoppable.

The Russians have rotated three goalies throughout the tourney, with Bryzgalov getting three starts (a 14-save shutout of Belarus, the 5-3 win over the U.S. and a 3-1 win over Slovakia). Overall, his goals against average is 1.33 and save percentage is .934 in his three outings.

Even so, there seems to be less media and fan focus on his overall solid play than on a couple of goals he allowed. There is no mention of the fact that he has outplayed Semyon Varlamov (2-1-0, 2.68 GAA, .908 save percentage) and KHL goaltender Vasili Koshechkin, who was in net for the Russians stunning loss to France. Instead, most of the talk has been about him looking bad on a Branko Radivojevic breakaway goal and "ducking away" from a deflected U.S. goal (that was not the questionable goal I was referring to) that started out about knee-high and ended up around chin-high when it jumped off a stick.


2. Switzerland vs. Czech Republic (8:45 AM EDT): The Swiss are undefeated heading into the medal round. They have done well in past preliminary rounds only to struggle when crunch time arrives in single-elimination, but have never done quite this well in pool play. The Swiss play a very disciplined defensive style and execute it well. The difference between this year's team and past ones is that they've also finally gotten a little bit of scoring pop to go with the team speed and solid system. The Swiss have by far been the tourney's most opportunistic team in transition, converting an unusually high percentage of their odd-man rushes.

The Czechs have been inconsistent in the tourney, and lost 5-2 to the Swiss when the teams met in the preliminary round. However,the team started to gel in the latter part of the preliminary round. It is not for nothing that the Czechs have won medals (one gold and a pair of bronzes) in each of the last three tournaments. They know how to peak at the right time. Yesterday's blowout of Norway shows what the Czech team is still capable of doing when they set their minds to it.

Jakub Voracek finished preliminary round play leading the Czech team in scoring, with six points (one goal, five assists) in seven games. He skated on the second line in yesterday's game. Along with even-strength linemate Jiri Hudler, most of Voracek's points to date have come on the power play. Voracek has generated four of his six points, including his lone goal, on the man advantage. In five-on-five play, Voracek's minus-four is tied for worst on his team.

3. Finland vs. Slovakia (11:30 AM EDT): This is the lone quarterfinal game in which there will be no current Flyers participating. However, former Flyers defenseman Lasse Kukkonen is the captain of Team Finland. The veteran has been gritting through the tourney with a reported lower-body injury and mostly has played a penalty killing role while logging less than than an average 10 minutes per game. Another former Flyers defenseman and Finnish national team veteran, Ossi Väänänen, is also on the Finns' blueline. Slovakia features ex-Flyers forward Radivojevic.

I would characterize both rosters as "typical" entries for their national teams. The Finns have a little less frontline firepower than the other primary medal contenders but the 2011 gold medalists play a gritty two-way game with good goaltending that often adds up to more than the sum of their parts. The Lions were methodical in winning six of seven preliminary round games, including a 3-2 regulation win over Russia. Even the Finns' loss to Team USA was a hard-fought game that could have gone either way until the final minutes.

Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Petri Kontiola, who now plays in the KHL for Traktor Chelyabinsk, has caught fire offensively in the tourney. Kontiola leads the team by far with 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists) in the seven games played to date.

Team Slovakia, as usual, got written off as an also-ran heading into the tournament. They had an up-and-down preliminary round. However, this team is capable on any given day of beating any other team in the field. The Slovaks were by far the better team in yesterday's game against Team USA. Although they lost 2-0 to the Finns in preliminary round play, the Slovaks are eminently capable of an upset.

Forwards Tomas Zaborsky (four goals, two assists) and Roman Kukumberg (six assists) share the Slovakian team 's scoring lead through preliminary round. CSKA Moscow and former Washington Capitals goalie Rastislav Stana (2.22 GAA, .917 save percentage) has generally given his team a chance to win.

4. Canada vs. Sweden (2:15 PM EDT): This is the quarterfinal game that will draw the most attention and the highest overall viewership. The Canadians had very little trouble with the host Swedes in the preliminary round, cruising to a 3-0 win. However, both teams have had their ups and downs in the tourney thus far.

In the preliminary round, Canada fell into a pattern of taking underdog teams too lightly. They had to scramble to defeat winless Slovenia in overtime after trailing at the ends of the first (2-0) and second (3-2) periods. At the start of they tourney, they also got off to bad starts and early deficits against Denmark and Switzerland. The Canadians recovered sufficiently to pull out a 3-1 win over the Danes but went on to loss via shootout to the Swiss.

Team Canada's best all-around effort came against the Swedes -- the one team they truly "got up" to play. They also steamrolled Norway (a team that his thrown past scares in the Canadians) by a 7-1 count and never game Belarus a sniff at a potential upset in a 4-1 win. The Canadians had some good and not-so-good stretches against the Czechs, but skated off with a 2-1 win.

Flyers forward Claude Giroux centers a dynamic line for the Canadians, featuring Steven Stamkos and Andrew Ladd as his wingers. This is a line we could see in the Olympics. Giroux has had some dominant games and some seemingly indifferent ones in the tourney to date, but it's hard to quibble too much with his seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) in seven games. Linemate Stamkos leads the club with 6 goals and 11 points.

Team Canada coach Lindy Ruff has generally used Flyers teammates Matt Read and Wayne Simmonds together on an even strength line with Carolina center Eric Staal. Although the line has only produced three goals at 5-on-5 -- one scored by Read against Switzerland and two directly set up by Read -- they've done pretty well.

Read has earned praise from Ruff as one of his team's most consistent two-way players in the tourney, notching three points (one goal, two assists) and getting more ice time (an average 14:57 per game) than many of the bigger-name NHL players on the roster. He's a fixture on the Team Canada penalty kill.

Simmonds has had trouble finishing scoring chances but has played better than his one goal and zero assists in seven games would suggest. He's forechecked very well, and his average 14:24 of ice time, consistent use on the second power play unit and 10 shots on goal are more indicative of Ruff's confidence in him than his modest stats. Simmonds' lone goal was a power play marker against the Czechs.

Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn serves on the second pairing for Canada, partnered with Brian Campbell. Despite the tournament being played on the wider international rink, Schenn has had some success in the tournament. Unfortunately, he drew a one-game suspension for a boarding major and game misconduct in the match against the Czechs. Apart from that blemish and a couple of bad shifts in the loss to Switzerland, Schenn has been solid and reliable. He has even scored a goal -- a blast off a feed from Read -- and earned an assist on a rare pinching foray.

This year's installment of Tre Kronor is not as deep or fearsome as in some past years. The roster that lost to Canada in the preliminaries was basically a glorified Elitserien All-Star team with a few NHLers added to the mix. The additions of the Sedin twins and Edler create more of an offensive threat.

Even in games where the Swedes haven't looked like a team poised to win its fourth medal in the last five World Championships, the two-way play exhibited by Gustafsson has been a consistent bright spot. I'd have liked to see him do a little more with all his power play time in the preliminary round but that is a minor quibble amidst crisp and decisive puck movement and strong defensive play.

While international play and NHL performance don't always correlate, Gustafsson played at a similarly high level for the Flyers in the last 10 games of the NHL regular season. While I don't want to put too much stock into a 17-game stretch of end-of-year NHL play for a non-playoff team and IIHF tourney play, I would also be lying if I said that I'm not encouraged by what I've seen.

In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest there is a possibility that the Flyers may already have what they are looking to add for next season -- a reliable two-way puck-mover to supplement the soon-to-retire Kimmo Timonen -- on their current roster. It's still a stretch to say that Gustafsson can be the heir apparent to the four-time NHL All-Star and four-time Barry Ashbee Trophy winner. But there is legitimate reason for hope that Gustafsson is now ready to take on a full-time NHL role if he can stay healthy (which has been one of his main bugaboos the last two seasons).

First things first: Gustafsson and the Swedes have a huge test against Team Canada tomorrow. If his team is to move on the semifinals in a minor upset, Gustafsson will need to be one of the Swedish players who elevates his game to its peak level.

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