Poulin returns, scores in Canada win
A record-tying return for Captain Clutch, a Finnish flurry, and a chaotic Group B took centre stage in Saturday’s hockey action at the Olympics.
Sweden 5, Slovakia 3 (Group B)
Juraj Slafkovský had a goal and an assist in what he called one of the greatest losses of his career as a late goal by Dalibor Dvorsky have Slovakia the edge in a three-way tie-breaker to win Group B.
Elias Pettersson had two goals for Sweden, who had opened up a 5-2 lead, but Dvorsky’s power play goal with 39 seconds left. Lucas Raymond had a goal and two assists, but it was his penalty that opened the door for Slovakia’s late power play goal.
Erik Karlsson had two assists, while Martin Gernat had a goal and an assist for the Slovaks. Samuel Hlavaj made 46 saves while Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves on 29 shots in his first start of the tournament.
Latvia 4, Germany 3 (Group C)
Coming off of a loss to the United States, Latvia overcame deficits of 1-0 and 2-1 to get a big three points and position themselves well in Group C.
Lukas Reichel scored just 2:06 into the game, but Dans Locmelis scored a power play goal before the end of the first period to tie the game at 1-1. Lukas Kalble scored 1:08 later for Germany to enter the intermission up by a goal.
Locmelis scored on a five-on-three in the second period to tie the game again at 2-2.
Eduards Tralmaks and Renars Krastenbergs scored 3:05 apart in the third period to open up a 4-2 lead for Latvia. Germany got one back with the goalie pulled from Tim Stützle, but that was as close as they would come.
Arturs Silovs made 26 saves on 29 shots in the win, while Philipp Grubauer made his second straight start for Germany, making 18 saves on 22 shots.
Finland 11, Italy 0 (Group B)
After two close losses for the hosts, the floodgates finally opened against Finland. The Finns scored three goals in each of the first two periods, and added five more in the third in the tournament’s most lopsided game so far.
Damian Clara made 32 saves on 38 shots in the first two periods, and Davide Fadani allowed five goals on 24 shots in the third. Juuse Saros had a 15-save shutout.
Artturi Lehkonen had a goal and two assists. Kaapo Kakko had two goals and an assist. Joel Kiviranta, Mikael Granlund and Sebastian Aho had two goals. Miro Heiskanen and Joel Armia had a goal and an assist each. Mikko Rantanen added three assists.
Canada 5, Germany 1 (Women’s QF)
Marie-Philip Poulin scored and tied Hayley Wickenheiser for the all-time Olympic women’s goal scoring record in her return from a right-leg injury. It was Poulin’s first goal of the tournament, and Canada’s last in the 5-1 win.
”The two skates I had the last couple of days were to see how I was feeling, waking up in the morning to make sure it wasn’t worse,” said Poulin. “I was having open conversation with the physio, doctor, and the coaches; they trust me and I trust them. I think this morning it was deciding on how many minutes to play and we went from there. I felt good, the first couple of shifts you’re getting your legs under you. You try to not overthink things so I’m happy to have had that and looking forward to getting better.”
”I’ve run out of things to say about Pou,” said Canada head coach Troy Ryan. “She’s incredible, great human, great leader, incredible player. To be honest, in my head, you’d almost think this was already her record, so when I see that, it’s just nice that she gets to be where she belongs.”
Canada has been deliberate in their response following a 5-0 loss to the United States. The wins against Finland and Germany haven’t leapt off the page in terms of scoreline, but they are working on their execution and building up towards a potential rematch against the United States, as they secure a semi-final spot.
”I thought the first period did not feel good,” said Ryan. “We didn’t compete to the level that we needed to. I don’t think we were as difficult to play against as we need to be moving forward. Sometimes it can be misunderstood when you get up to a 2-0 lead, but I thought the second period and third period were much more like how we need to play to be successful.”
Brianne Jenner and Claire Thompson scored in the first period. Sarah Fillier scored in the second, while Blayre Turnbull scored 38 seconds into the third period.
Franziska Feldmeier scored the lone German goal.
Emerance Maschmeyer made 10 saves in the win for Canada. Victoire goaltender Sandra Abstreiter made 38 saves on 43 shots for Germany.
Switzerland 1 Finland 0 (Women’s QF)
Alina Müller scored the game’s only goal and Andrea Brändli had a 40-save shutout as the Swiss held fort and defeated Finland to move on to the medal round. They will play Canada next in the semi-final.
The Finns outshot Switzerland 40-14 in the game, but were unable to score. In their five games of the tournament, they scored in only one game and had three total goals. Sanni Ahola made 13 saves in the loss.
Finland had some great looks late, with two power plays and the goalie pulled, but Brändli stood tall.
United States 6 Denmark 3 (Group C)
In a game with some off-ice political backstory, the United States survived a bit of a scare and some subpar goaltending to defeat Denmark.
The Danes started strong, opening up leads of 1-0 and 2-1 with goals from Nick Oleson (just 1:40 into the game) and Nick Jensen from centre ice. Matt Boldy scored the American goal in between.
In the second period, the Americans got two goals in 57 seconds from Brady Tkachuk and Jack Eichel, followed by another goal from Noah Hanifin. With three seconds left in the period, Phillip Bruggisser scored to cut the US lead from 4-3.
The US got third-period goals from Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes.
Jeremy Swayman made 18 saves in the win. Former Canadiens prospect Frederik “The Gnome” Dichow played the final 8:53 of the game and allowed one goal.
Up Next
Preliminary play ends on Sunday with four games. Switzerland faces Czechia in Group A action while Canada faces France in a game that may decide the tournament’s top seed. Group C play wraps up with Denmark and Latvia and the United States facing Germany.
