Eurolanche

2017 IIHF Worlds: Finals

The medal round, the final round of the 2017 IIHF World Championship was played today, with the Colorado Avalanche being represented in all four remaining teams battling for a medal. Defenseman Andrei Mironov returned to Russia’s lineup for their bronze medal matchup against Finland and Mikko Rantanen, while the Canadian trio of Nathan MacKinnon. Matt Duchene and Calvin Pickard squared off against Sweden and the forward duo of Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg.

Russia – Finland 5:3 (1:0, 3:1, 1:2)

7. Gusev (Antipin, Nichushkin), 22. Tkachov (Nichushkin, Zub), 28. Gusev (Panarin, Dadonov), 29. Kiselevich (Namestnikov, Nichushkin), 49. Kucherov (Gusev, Belov) – 40. Rantanen (Filppula), 42. Lehtonen (Aho), 46. Savinainen (Rantanen, Aho)

The bronze medal game was the first game played today, as unsuccessful semifinals Russia and Finland battled to at least get a medal as a consolation for their previous loss. Andrei Mironov returned to the Russian lineup and played alongside youngster Ivan Provorov. The Russians got off to a great start and held a four-goal lead in the second period, before Mikko Rantanen got Finland on the board and rejuvenated the Finns, who started to apply more and more pressure, which resulted in two more goals. Rantanen added an assist on Finland’s second goal, but it wasn’t enough to overcome such a huge deficit. Mironov finished the tournament with one goal in six games, while Rantanen recorded four goals and 10 points in as many games.

Canada – Sweden 1:2 after SO (0:0, 0:1, 1:0, 0:0, 0:1)

42. O’Reilly (Marner, MacKinnon) – 40. Hedman, shootout-winning goal – Backstrom 

The Canadians were looking for a World Championship three-peat, but the Swedes were more than equal to the task of challenging Canada for gold. Both Calvin Pickard and Henrik Lundqvist in the Swedish net held a shutout, with Pickard’s bid being denied by Victor Hedman late in the second period. The Canadians answered with a goal in the opening two minutes of the final stanza and the game went into overtime. After 20 extra minutes, with the game still being tied, the winner of this year’s tournament had to be decided by a shootout. The Swedes emerged victorious thanks to goals by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Nicklas Backstrom, while none of the Canadian shooters beat Lundqvist. MacKinnon was the only Avalanche player to record a point in the game, as he notched an assist on O’Reilly’s tying goal. MacKinnon recorded 6 goals in 15 points in 10 games and was voted to the tournament’s All-Star team by the media. Matt Duchene had a disappointing tournament, only recording a single goal in 10 games. Tyson Barrie, who only played in 5 games due to a freak off-ice injury, recorded two goals and 7 points in three games. Calvin Pickard finished the tournament with 7 wins, a 1.49 GAA and a SVS% of .938. Sweden’s Gabriel Landeskog had two goals and 5 points in 10 games, while Carl Soderberg finished the tournament with a single assist in 10 games.

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2017 IIHF Worlds: Semifinals

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