Canada didn’t get off to a great start, but dominated the last 30 minutes to pull off a come from behind 6-3 win over a gritty Slovakia squad in Day 3 action at the World Juniors. Â Canada moved to 2-0, and sit atop Group Business, one point ahead of Russia and three points up on the US.
Slovakia got out to leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before a Morgan Rielly Power play marker shifted the momentum for good. Â Canada scored 4 in the second and added two more in the third. Â Ryan Strome had a pair, while singles also went to Mark Scheifele, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Tyler Rattie.
The Canadians were assessed 2 major penalties over the course of the game, with JC Lipon (checking to the head) and Anthony Camara (charging) getting expelled from the game. Â While Camara has escaped supplementary discipline, Â Lipon has a hearing Saturday morning (Ufa time) to determine if he will be suspended and for how long.
Canada faces the US on Sunday morning.
The Americans faced the Russians in a low scoring intense battle, and the resulting 2-1 Russia victory brought the high flying US back to earth. Â In the first power on power matchup of the tournament, Russia made up for their dropping a point to Slovakia and can still gain first in the pool with a win over Canada on Monday (assuming they beat the Germans).
In Group A action, defending champion Sweden was surprised by the Swiss, barely eking out a shootout victory. Â Meanwhile, the Czech Republic shocked Finland 3-1, popping the Finn’s bubble of greatness that they had been building over the last couple of weeks leading up to and into the start of the tournament. Â Right now they appear to be on the outside looking in as the Swiss hold down a playoff position with the point they took from Sweden.
Topics: Canada, Russia, Slovakia, USA, World Junior Championships
Die hard Sens Fan, who prides himself on being relatively objective in most cases, but can sometimes get caught up in Fandom.
Jared Crozier
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