Canada Remains Perfect, Yet Imperfect; Russia Wins First Battle Of Titans

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.  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.  Canada scored 4 in the second and added two more in the third.  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.  While Camara has escaped supplementary discipline,  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.  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.  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.   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.