The four favorites, though in Finland's case, they were a mild one over Russia, solely due to seeding, advanced Wednesday to the semi-finals. For the Rangers, the six remaining players alive in the tournament all advanced. In addition, based on their being six still alive and the match ups, at least one Ranger and possibly as many as five will be playing for the Gold Medal on Sunday.
First, the bad news. It was confirmed Wednesday that Mats Zuccarello has a non-displaced fracture on his left hand. The unknown is the length of absence, though the speculation is that it could be three weeks in total from the time of the injury, but more will be known when he is examined by the team's physician's Friday. What this means is that Zucc likely will be sidelined an additional 7-10 days after the Rangers resume play on February 27, forcing him to miss at least five games. New York plays three games in four nights, six in 11 and nine in 16, so if the injury keeps the team's leading scorer out even a week longer than hoped, it could have a major implication on the team's place in the division and conference.
A few side points to the Zucc injury is how this impacts the Rangers at the trade deadline and the line combinations. On the former, this could result in the team deciding not to deal Ryan Callahan by March 3 with the view that they are already down one top-nine forward and to deal another one, especially the captain, would create a major gulf and fracture the team. That said, if a phenomenal deal came along, all bets are off, but I think this downgrades the possibility of a deal, unless competing in 2013-14 isn't the goal. The Rangers are expected to get back Derek Dorsett back from his injury when play resumes and likely will call up JT Miller. Miller, who as Larry Brooks points out, centered Zucc and Brassard when he was up earlier in the year, has three goals and 14 assists in 16 games since he was sent back down in early January. Both Miller and Brassard can play the wing, each to varying degrees of effectiveness, so calling Miller up and inserting him in the lineup might be the most seamless approach to deal with Zucc's absence. The only caveat is that the PP combinations might have to change again, as Zucc was a key member of that grouping, even though a tweak was made just before the Olympic break due to the recent struggles on the man-advantage. Maybe Miller just replacing Zucc there as well, though he lacks the Norwegian's creativity, I could see a change to that line with Richards sliding down off the point to replace Zuccarello with Marc Staal filling in for Richards or maybe Hagelin gets a shot to fill in for Zucc.
For Sweden, Henrik Lundqvist was strong early and throughout, helping the Swedes hold on to a 1-0 lead until they tallied four in third to defeat Slovenia 5-0. Lundqvist made 19 saves to notch his fourth overall Olympics shutout and his second of the 2014 Games. Carl Hagelin, who was dealing with a cut lip and playing through an undisclosed injury, tallied twice in the third, scoring once while wide open in front on a nice move to open Robert Kristan's legs to beat him five-hole, then re-directing a beautiful Erik Karlsson set-up to make it 5-0. The only negative was that Hagelin was hit in the head and made reference after the game to him being a bit dazed when it happened, so the concern of a possible concussion has to be there, though nothing has been reported to date.
For Canada, Rick Nash looked a lot better Wednesday than he has during the rest of the tournament. Nash opened on the fourth line with John Tavares and Patrick Sharp, Canada's first goal was vintage Nash, as he used his size and speed to control the puck behind the net and create space, then found a wide-open Sharp to make it 1-0 in the first. He played 4:58 in the first, but when Tavares was injured in the second, coach Mike Babcock shifted up the lines and Nash saw 3:17 in that period and 2:43 in the third. Nash did see some time with Sidney Crosby but it remains to be seen how the combinations moving forward will work, though Babcock could just re-insert Matt Duchene in place of Tavares and have him play with Nash and Sharp while rotating in Martin St. Louis.
For the U.S., Ryan McDonagh was beastly again while Callahan was well, Callahan. For Mack Truck, we know how good he is now the rest of the world is seeing. He played 7:39 in the first, 4:48 in the second and 7:12 in the third, finishing second in playing time at 19:39 to Ryan Suter, who played 22:10 and sees time on the first power play unlike McDonagh. McDonagh has been a defensive force and was able to rebound nicely from his attempted clear that hit Suter's skate and went behind Jonathan Quick's for the Czech Republic's first goal that knotted the game at one.
As good as Drew Doughty and Shea Weber have been, scoring seven of Canada's 13 goals, it's possible coach Dan Bylsma splits up McDonagh and Suter to match up against the two Canadian d-man, I think you should keep your best pair together and worry about matching them up against the Crosby line, but I could see Shattenkirk with McDonagh and Fowler with Suter to allow each one of the Mack-Suter duo to mark one of the Canadian duo.
Callahan played with Backes and Brown, seeing 4:59 if ice time in the first, 5:39 in the second and 4:19 in the third for a total ice time of 14:57. Zach Parise, who had played on that line instead of Brown, was with Kesler and Kane. Callahan set the tone early, hitting everything in sight, crashing the net and playing his usual physical game in all three zones. While he won't score much, his grouping with Backes and Brown, given their skill, ability to wear down the opponent while also having a scoring threat in Backes, can change the momentum of a game, as we have see throughout this tournament. Derek Stepan was a healthy scratch again and likely will be the same against Canada.
While the Rangers, save for Lundqvist, haven't dominated, we have seen one player ascend in McDonagh while the others have been solid contributors, albeit with some bobbles along the way. Friday with Sweden-Finland and the US-Canada playing should be a fun day, can't wait for it to get here already.