Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

NHL Short Notes- World Cup Edition

09/21/2016 at 7:37am EDT

TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
TEAM SWEDEN 2, Team Finland 0
Team Canada 4, TEAM USA 2

TEAM CANADA ELIMINATES TEAM USA, ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS . . .
Down 1-0 early in the first period, Team Canada scored four consecutive goals – including a pair in 14 seconds – to eliminate Team USA and clinch a spot in the semifinals of the World Cup of Hockey 2016.


* Matt Duchene potted two goals, including what stood as the winner. Duchene, who collected one assist in the club’s tournament opener, has totaled 11-14—25 in his last 22 international appearances for Canada: also 4-8—12 in the 2015 World Championship (10 GP) and 5-5—10 in the 2016 World Championship (10 GP), both of which resulted in gold medals.

* Carey Price made 34 saves for the victory, but saw his international shutout streak end at 228:41 dating to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Overall, Price is a perfect 13-0-0 in his last 13 appearances for Canada dating to the 2007 World Juniors.

* ICYMI: John Tavares celebrated his 26th birthday by making a slick move and setting up Patrice Bergeron for Team Canada’s fourth goal.

. . . TEAM EUROPE ALSO LOCKS UP SPOT IN GROUP A
Team Europe also clinched a spot in the semifinals by virtue of Team USA’s loss. Team Europe will face Team Canada Wednesday in a showdown for first place in Group A.

DID YOU KNOW?
Seven players share the tournament lead with three points apiece, including four from Team Canada: Matt Duchene (2-1—3), Sidney Crosby (1-2—3), Brad Marchand (1-2—3) and John Tavares (0-3—3).

Two of the other players also are Canadian, but are participating with Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey 2016: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1-2—3) and Colton Parayko(0-3—3).

LUNDQVIST RETURNS, LIFTS TEAM SWEDEN INTO FIRST IN GROUP B
Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 36 shots he faced, including 13 in the final period, to lead Team Sweden past Team Finland and into first place in Group B with a perfect 2-0-0 record.


* Lundqvist, who guided Sweden to the silver medal at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, returned to the team’s lineup after missing its tournament opener due to illness.

* “I felt pretty rusty the first period, not as aware as I wanted to be, but I got some really good help with some loose pucks and stuff like that,” Lundqvist said. “Then in the second and third I felt more and more comfortable. But it was fun. I really enjoyed being out there playing, a big game, an important game.”

* Team Sweden will clinch a spot in the semifinals – as well as first place in Group B – if it earns at least one point Wednesday against Team North America.

SNEAK PEEK AT WEDNESDAY’S ACTION
All Times Eastern
Team North America @ Team Sweden, 3 p.m., ESPN, SN, TVAS
Team Europe @ Team Canada, 8 p.m., ESPN2, SN, TVAS

WEDNESDAY’S CLINCHING SCENARIOS
* Team Sweden will clinch a spot in the semifinals – as well as first place in Group B – if it earns at least one point against Team North America.

* Team North America will clinch a spot in the semifinals if it defeats Team Sweden in regulation.

* Team North America will be eliminated from semifinal contention if it loses to Team Sweden by five or more goals.

* Team Finland will be eliminated from semifinal contention if Team North America earns at least one point against Team Sweden.

* The winner of the Team Europe-Team Canada game will clinch first place in Group A.

TIEBREAKERS FOR WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY 2016
The top two finishers in Group A and Group B – following the conclusion of round-robin play – will advance to a single-game semifinal, where the first-place team from each group will face an elimination game against the second-place team from the other group. Winners of the semifinal games then will advance to a best-of-three final series.

The following tiebreakers will determine group rankings at the conclusion of the round robin:

Two-Way Tie
Any tie between two teams will be decided by the result of their head-to-head game.

Three/Four-Way Tie
Steps 1-4 will be calculated based upon ALL games played:
* Step 1: ROW (total regulation/OT wins, not including shootout wins)
* Step 2: Regulation Wins (total regulation wins only)
* Step 3: Goal Differential (total goals for minus total goals against)
* Step 4: Total Goals Scored (total goals for)

Steps 5-6 will be calculated based upon games played between tied teams only:
* Step 5: Goal Differential (total goals for minus total goals against)
* Step 6: Total Goals Scored (total goals for)

^ Note: As soon as any three-way ties are broken down to a two-way tie, the tie will automatically be broken by the head-to-head matchup between the two tied teams (see two-way tie criteria outlined above), and not by continuing on with any additional steps.

Click here to view the standings through four days of the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

REMINDER: ‘HOCKEY SENSE’ SUMMIT AT HOCKEY HALL OF FAME
The World Cup of Hockey 2016 will host another ‘Hockey Sense’ summit – this time focusing on youth hockey and development – Wednesday at the Hockey Hall of Fame, beginning at 7:30 a.m. (with full program starting at 8:30 a.m.).

Among the attendees will be NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, NHL vice president of hockey development Pat LaFontaine, Los Angeles Kings president of business operations Luc Robitaille and NHLPA special assistant to the executive director Mathieu Schneider.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
MIC’D UP: Team Russia forward Evgeny Kuznetsov; Team North America forward Nathan MacKinnon; Team Finland defenseman Sami Vatanen; Team Europe forward Mats Zuccarello; and referees Chris Lee, Dan O’Halloran and Kelly Sutherland . . . The Los Angeles Kings unveiled their 50th anniversary jersey, which they will wear for 14 home games in 2016-17.

the information above was provided by the NHL PR department

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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