Tonight’s tilt features the final round-robin action for both Team Canada and Team Europe. And while one’s journey was completely expected, the other has made for quite the Cinderella story.
Team Canada ended Team USA’s tournament hopes last night with a convincing 4-2 win. After American defenceman Ryan McDonagh opened the scoring, Canada responded with three goals in the first period. With two goals from Matt Duchene, plus one a piece from Corey Perry and Patrice Bergeron, the host’s balanced scoring effort continues unabated.
Carey Price again looked sharp, but will rest tonight in favour of Corey Crawford. In addition, Claude Giroux and Jake Muzzin may skate as well, though where and bumping who remains unknown.
Update:
Weber and Getzlaf will not play for #TeamCanada tomorrow. Crawford starts in goal. Babcock said Weber and Getzlaf are available in semis
— Shawn Roarke (@sroarke_nhl) September 21, 2016
Following their surprising 3-0 win over Team USA, Team Europe came up with a less-surprising but still important 3-2 victory against the Czech Republic. As a result, tonight’s match will determine Group A’s top seed, though Europe obviously faces Canada as the significant underdog.
Key to their effort has been goaltending. Jaroslav Halak has looked superb, shutting out Team USA and posting a .933 Sv% against the Czechs. He’s almost certainly going to face a barrage of shots tonight; for Europe to have a chance, they’ll need a super-human effort once more.
When/Where:
Wednesday, Sept. 21, 7:00 p.m. CT, Air Canada Centre
TV Broadcast: ESPN2, SN, TVA Sports
Live Stream: WatchESPN, NHL Live
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
| Tomas Tatar | Anze Kopitar | Marian Hossa |
| Marian Gaborik | Frans Nielsen | Mats Zuccarello |
| Nino Niederreiter | Leon Draisaitl | Tobias Rieder |
| Thomas Vanek | Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | Jannik Hansen |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Zdeno Chara | Andrej Sekera |
| Roman Josi | Dennis Seidenberg |
| Christian Ehrhoff | Mark Streit |
| Goaltenders |
| Jaroslav Halak |
| Tomas Greiss |
| Left Wing | Centre | Right Wing |
| Brad Marchand | Sidney Crosby | Patrice Bergeron |
| John Tavares | Claude Giroux | Steven Stamkos |
| Logan Couture | Jonathan Toews | Corey Perry |
| Joe Thornton | Ryan O’Reilly | Matt Duchene |
| Left Defence |
Right Defence |
| Marc-Edouard Vlasic | Brent Burns |
| Jake Muzzin | Drew Doughty |
| Jay Bouwmeester | Alex Pietrangelo |
| Goaltenders |
| Corey Crawford |
| Braden Holtby |
Tweets of the Day:
Interesting all 7 defense (Chara Streit Sekera Sbisa Seidenberg Josi Ehrhoff) on Team Europe are all left handed
— Joel Forman (@joelthesakic) September 19, 2016
From last night, the rink was partying, but Team Canada had a d-zone faceoff to worry about. A story on details: https://t.co/VExLWFHdRE
— Аrpon Basu (@ArponBasu) September 21, 2016
Which team are you cheering for this evening? (Okay, it’s Team Canada, I get it.) Will Canada’s almost guaranteed edge in shots and possession translate into goals on the scoreboard? And what would UFA defencemen Christian Ehrhoff and Dennis Seidenberg need to show you to deserve a camp PTO (or even contract)? Turn the comments section below into your stream of consciousness, and as always, thanks for reading!
