|
Bragging rights for Landeskog; Canada's Avs settle for silver |
|
|
Rick Sadowski
 Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
|
|
|
For the most part, Avalanche players performed quite well during the IIHF World Championship tournament.
Sweden and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog captured the gold medal with a 2-1 shootout win against Canada on Sunday in Cologne, Germany.
Goalie Calvin Pickard's stock likely rose based on his play for silver medal-winning Canada. The Vegas Golden Knights could be tempted to select him in next month's expansion draft.
Pickard, who made 40 saves Sunday, finished with a 5-2 record, one shutout, a 1.49 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in the tournament.
Nathan MacKinnon had an assist Sunday and ended with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 10 games, tying him with Russia's Nikita Kucherov for second in scoring. He had six shots in 20:48 Sunday but was stopped by Sweden goalie Henrik Lundqvist in the shootout.
Pickard and Lundqvist, who joined Sweden after the New York Rangers were eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs, were named Best Player of the game for their respective teams.
Forward Matt Duchene, who was bidding for his third consecutive WC gold medal, had a rough tournament. He had two shots in 17:19 Sunday and finished with one goal in 10 games.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie missed Canada's final seven games because of a leg laceration after amassing seven points (two goals, five assists) in the first three games.
Landeskog had three shots in 24:27 for Sweden on Sunday and ended with five points (two goals, three assists) in 10 games.
Carl Soderberg didn't play for the second game in a row and had one assist in eight games.
Mikko Rantanen, who scored an Avalanche-leading 20 goals this season, had a goal and an assist in 18:35 Sunday in Finland's 5-3 loss to Russia in the bronze medal game. He had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 10 games.
Avalanche draft pick Andrei Mironov returned to Russia's lineup after being scratched four consecutive games. He had a minor penalty in 9:27 and ended with one goal in six games.
J.T. Compher had two goals in eight games for the United States, which lost to Finland in a quarterfinal game.
*****
Washington's Nicklas Backstrom and Arizona's Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored shootout goals against Pickard, while Lundqvist stopped all four shots he faced.
Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman scored while shorthanded for Sweden with 20.8 seconds left in the second period. Buffalo's Ryan O'Reilly tied the game at 1:58 of the third on a power play.
*****
The Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche's ECHL affiliate, have advanced to the Kelly Cup championship series and will play the South Carolina Stingrays or Manchester Monarchs.
The Eagles won their best-of-seven Western Conference final series against the Toledo Walleye in five games.
Colorado will open the finals at home with Games 1 and 2 next Friday and Sunday.
Join the Discussion:
»