SATURDAY ROUNDUP: FLYERS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Friday's Results
* Team Canada had little trouble dispatching Belarus by a 4-1 score. The top line of
Claude Giroux (power play goal, two assists) centering Steven Stamkos (power play goal, one assist) and Andrew Ladd (power play goal, one assist) was too much for the Belarusians to handle. Ryan O'Reilly opened the scoring for Team Canada with a first-period even strength goal.
At one juncture of the third period, Canada held a 32-7 shot advantage over Belarus. The game finished with a 37-10 shot disparity. Devan Dubnyk got the easy win in goal.
Giroux's goal was a great example of the player's creativity. He got the puck behind the net, taking a half-stride to his left and drawing goalie Dmitri Milchakov to move laterally to guard the post on that side. Realizing the goalie had over-committed, Giroux immediately and smoothly reversed directions. Swooping out in front of the now-unguarded post to his right side, Giroux wrapped the puck into the vacated side of the net.
For his three-point outburst and the clever goal, Giroux won Best Player honors for the game.
Flyers forward
Wayne Simmonds remains scoreless in the tourney. He had a great scoring chance on his lone shot of the game but was unable to elevate it over a sprawling Milchakov. Linemate
Matt Read repeatedly fed pucks to center Eric Staal, who finished with a game-high 9 shots on goal. However, the line was unable to find the twine in this game.
Canada coach Lindy Ruff was able to spread around ice time among all of his lines and defense pairs. No one played more than 19:54 (Dallas Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas) or less than 10:37 (O'Reilly). Flyers defenseman
Luke Schenn skated 28 shifts over 18:00 of ice time. He unofficially blocked three shots (the stat is not kept by the IIHF scorers).
*
Ilya Bryzgalov was the backup to Colorado's Semyon Varlamov in Russia's 3-2 regulation loss to tournament co-host Finland yesterday. It was the second consecutive loss for the Russians, who were stunned by France (2-1) the previous day. Former Chicago Blackhawks forward Petri Kontiola had a pair of goals for the Finns. He has notched five goals for the tourney to date.
*
Jakub Voracek notched a pair of assists the Czech Republic's inartistic 4-2 win over underdog Slovenia. The Czech trailed by 2-1 score at on point and the game was tied 2-2 after the first and second periods. Voracek, who also assisted on Jiri Hudler's game-tying goal in the final minute of the opening period, set up Zbynek Michalek's go-ahead power play goal early in the third period.
Saturday's games (Times in EDT)
*
Cal Heeter remained scratched as Team USA's third goalie. Ben Bishop was back in net today for the Americans, who grabbed a hard-fought 4-2 win over France. Stephen Gionta (deflection of a shot by former Flyers defenseman Matt Carle), Bobby Butler (slam dunk on a triangular passing sequence), Paul Stastny (loose puck in front) and David Moss scored goals for Team USA against former NHL goalie Cristobal Huet.
*
Oliver Lauridsen suffered an apparent groin pull in Denmark's 4-1 loss to undefeated Switzerland. The injury, which was subsequently reported by TV4 Sweden broadcasters, happened in the second period. Lauridsen skated just one minute in the middle period. He did not return to the game. Lauridsen skated 5:11 in the first period. He was on the ice for Luca Cunti's power play goal that got the Swiss on the board first in the match.
* 10:15 AM: Looking to bounce back from a meek loss to Canada, tournament co-host Sweden takes on Slovenia. Flyers defenseman
Erik Gustafsson leads Tre Kronor in ice time (22:23 average) and is tied for the team plus-minus lead (plus-four) with defense partner Henrik Tallinder and forward Joel Lundqvist.
* 1:15 PM:
Marcel Noebels has been a healthy scratch twice and played very limited minutes on the fourth line in Germany's other two games to date. Today, the Germans take on Latvia.
********
Kindle users: Please sign up for Flyers Buzz. For more information
click here.
Click below to follow me on Twitter:
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»