Canada vs Germany

Following Canada's 8-0 crushing of Team Slovakia, tonight Canada returned to the Bell Center in Montreal to take on the Germans.

Germany has a really weak team this year, especially with the absence of Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton would not loan Draisaitl to Germany, despite making him a healthy scratch and possibly loaning him back the WHL, if his rights were to be traded to the Kelowna Rockets. One player that Germany has that remains dangerous is Dominik Kahun, a forward who helped keep Germany in the World Juniors last year with 7 points in 7 games. However, I can see Germany being relegated this year as Denmark, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic all have much stronger teams in my opinion.

Canada started the game with the same line combinations they finished with against Slovakia. The only change in the lineup is that Jets prospect Eric Comrie will get his first start of the tournament.

Domi - Reinhart - Duclair
Ritchie - McDavid - Lazar
Paul - Petan - Fabbri
Crouse - Gauthier/Point - Virtanen

Nurse - Theodore
Morrissey - Bowey
Heatherington - Hicketts
Morin


1st Period

To start off, Connor McDavid gets his first of the tournament on a power play just three minutes into the game, and celebrated excitedly, pounding the glass and scaring Canadians fearing another hand injury. Nic Petan and and Josh Morrissey drew assists on McDavid's goal. The goal was scored scored by McDavid attempting a cross crease pass from beside the net, which was blocked. McDavid stayed with it and jammed in the loose puck past German net minder Kevin Reich.

After that, Canada took a penalty of its own sending Max Domi to the box. Upon the penalty expiring, Domi was sprung on a clean breakaway, but was stopped by Reich.  Canada took another penalty, less than 3 minutes after the Domi penalty. This time it is Nick Ritchie headed to the sin bin, for goalie interference. Canada had a goal waived off last night due to a goalie interference call. They may want to ease up in the blue paint to avoid penalties, as this call is clearly much easier to make in international play with stricter rules.

Canada's depth is striking the tournament again. On another Canadian power play, on a play similar to McDavid's first goal the pass was successful to line mate Curtis Lazar, who notched his first of the tournament. Nic Petan collected his 2nd assist of the game, and fifth point of the tournament on Lazar's goal. Following the goal, Jake Virtanen got a breakaway but missed. Lots of penalties in the first period, as Canada committed their 3rd foul of the night on a Joe Hicketts hold. They can't be taking these penalties, especially against a weak team. In the dying seconds, Canada looked as though they were about to score another greasy goal but German defense man Patrick Kurz saved the puck just as it was about to cross the goal line. The 1st period ends, two to nil Canada.


2nd Period 

Lazar missed a wide open net within the first two minutes,off a scramble in front of Kevin Reich. Lazar was also the player who last touched the Kurz goal line save late in the first period. The period started off slow, with Germany putting a bit more pressure on Canada but nothing to worry about. Canada ends up taking their 4th penalty of the game, sending the Germans to another powerplay. Nick Ritchie heads to the box again, for a careless interference penalty. It looked like Ritchie just hit Dominik Kahun for the sake of hitting him. Ritchie needs to be more disciplined if he plans on continuing his top 6 role next to Connor McDavid. However, Ritchie's strong net drive has its positives as well, as he IS on a line with Connor McDavid who is able to create chances, especially for people in the right position. Screens, tips, and greasy rebound goals are what Canada will need later on in the tournament.

Germany did a good job of not letting Canada play their game. I also didn't see the speed Canada used against Slovakia, which is probably a good reason the game is only 2-0 at this point. Canada needs to pick it up, and not take this game off. In the last five minutes, Canada takes their fifth penalty of the game. This time its seventh defense man Samuel Morin, a Flyers prospect who goes off for tripping. On the power play, German forward Mark Michaelis crept behind the Canadian defense corps for a breakaway, but was stopped on a five hole shot by Eric Comrie. Other than the breakaway, Canada's penalty kill looked good against a German team with few offensive threats. Near the end of the period, Germany got a bit over-aggressive, as Nico Sturm took a cross-checking penalty with two minutes remaining.  Sturm also received a 10 minute misconduct for the penalty. Canada's powerplay didn't look as good as it did in its first two attempts, as Canada couldn't connect on the triangle down low and started taking shots off of the wing which were unsuccessful. Canada will start the 3rd with just under 30 seconds of power play time. No goals for either side, and a lackluster period for Team Canada.


3rd Period

Canada's short power play would be killed by the Germans. Also, a new line emerged in the 3rd, a line of Connor McDavid, Robby Fabbri and Jake Virtanen. Perhaps Ritchie could be getting a smack in the wrist for the penalties. Or Canada is simply trying to shake things up to wake up the players. McDavid, Virtanen and Fabbri have all played well in the past 5 periods, so its worth a shot to combine 3 hot players. The only line that stayed the same in the 3rd period was the Duclair - Reinhart - Domi line, which has been together since pre-tournament. Later in the period, Ray Ferraro pointed out that Ritchie had indeed become the 13th forward.

Early in the 3rd, Canada and Germany played fairly even at 5 on 5, which is a positive for Germany in itself. At the 14th minute mark, Anthony Duclair took a hit from behind penalty, in which Ritchie serves the 2 minute penalty while Duclair was serving his 10 minute misconduct. Canada killed Duclair's penalty to make them a perfect 6/6 on the penalty kill.

9 minutes into the period, McDavid was sprung on a partial breakaway, but elected to pass to Robby Fabbri, who dropped behind the German defense instead of across the crease, which is where McDavid passed the puck. Moments later, McDavid set up Jake Virtainen who was robbed by Kevin Reich, who flashed the glove on the Vancouver draft pick. Max Domi scored on the faceoff following Reich's big glove save. Domi was set up by a backhand pass across the German crease by Buffalo first round pick Sam Reinhart.  A few minutes later, Nic Petan who was now on a line with Crouse and Lazar, went backhand in tight but hit the far post, which bounced right to Crouse who put the puck wide.

Canada got another chance on the power play with 5 minutes left in the 3rd. German Kai Wissman took a hooking penalty to send Canada to their 4th power play on the night. Canada would strike on this power play, giving them their third power play goal on the night. Nic Petan passed the puck to Madison Bowey, who buried the rubber past Reich's glove after pinching in from the blueline for his first World Junior goal. That is Nic Petan's 3rd assist and power play point of the night, as well as his team-leading sixth point. That would be just about it regarding scoring chances, as both teams awaited the end of the game.

CANADA WINS 4-0 OVER GERMANY


Final Thoughts

- Back to back shutouts to start the World Juniors for Canada, but they were against 2 weaker teams in Germany and Slovakia. Its still great that no fatal mistakes occured causing a goal, but we'll see how Canada's defense will react to tougher teams in Finland and USA.
- Obviously Petan's numbers are good, but he is playing great. Fast, shifty, and very creative.
- McDavid got player of the game for Canada, well deserved with one goal and two assists.
- Virtanen surprises me too, his play in the last 2 games has been good. Hes strong on the puck, fast along the boards, and hes been taking shooting, which some players find difficult to do.
- It will be interesting to see Canada's lines against Finland, will Groulx go back to the lines that started the game, or will he go with new-found chemistry? We'll have to see.




Notes from other games today:

Sweden vs Denmark

- Jacob De La Rose and William Nylander both got their 2nd goals of the tournament, while De La Rose also notched 2 assists
- I was expecting more out of Mikkel Aagaard, who led Team Denmark and the tournament in scoring last year in the lower divison. He didn't get any points today, and wasn't noticeable yesterday.


Finland vs Slovakia

- Great rebound game for Slovakia. If they came into this game down and deflated this game could've gotten ugly as well.
- Surprised to see the defending champs 0-2 so far in the tournament.
- Mikko Rantanen has Finland's only 2 goals of the tournament.
- Good to see Denis Godla rebound as well, making 37 saves and only letting in one goal. Godla was pulled after Canada's 5th goal last night.
-  Canadiens prospect Martin Reway set up 2 goals in this game, earning him 2 assists and his first points of the tournament.


Czech Republic vs Switzerland

- I would've predicted the Czech Republic winning this game, I thought they had a better team on paper with Jakub Vrana, Dominik Masin, David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha.
- David Pastrnak got his first point of the tournament, a secondary assist on Lukas Klok's 1st period tally
- Kevin Fiala scored 2 goals, including an end to end rush that was topped off with a shot bar down
- Noah Rod, who got 3 penalties vs Canada in pre-tournament play, scored his first goal of the tournament



Oh yeah, and the NHL resumed play today. However, the Canadiens did not play.