Calgary Flames at the World Championship: May 8th Recap

It’s a new day which means another day of some Calgary Flames players in Europe for the World Championship. Let’s see how today unfolded.

Guys, our little Flame is doing things! Johnny Gaudreau, Calgary Flames superstar, had a killer game against Team Sweden earlier today. So much so that he got the player of the game! And he wins a watch for that.

Team Canada also played today, but unfortunately, Chad Johnson didn’t get the nod between the pipes since he played just yesterday. Maybe next game. Actually, I didn’t have to be anywhere in the morning today, so it’s good he wasn’t in net. They played at 8:15 am MT, my time zone, and I got up at 8, saw Chad wasn’t starting, and went back to bed. So thanks Canada for not starting Chad and letting me sleep in. Also for my Canadians out there, Team Canada won in a dominating 6-0 win against Belarus. Wow, are Canadians good at hockey or something?

But back to Team USA and Johnny Hockey.

In this game, Sweden made the score 1-0 early on a powerplay goal by Elias Lindholm. But it’s all good because about a minute later, the youngest player at the tournament, Clayton Keller, made it 1-0. Gaudreau didn’t assist on this play, but he was on the ice for it. So yay Johnny!

Then the score was 2-1 Sweden later in the period and thanks to Johnny Hockey himself for getting the equalizer on a breakaway as Team USA’s penalty came to an end. I initially thought it was a shorthanded breakaway chance leading me to believe it was a shorthanded goal and led to even more confusion, like “Why is Johnny on the penalty kill?”

But about thirty seconds later, Team Sweden made the score 3-2.

No need to fret though, because Calgary Flames very own, again, Johnny Gaudreau, makes it 3-3 early in the second period.

Calgary Flames

It would remain 3-3 until about eight minutes left of the game when USA made it 4-3 and took the lead for the first time all game. What was funny to me (sorry Sweden fans) is that Team Sweden took no penalties all game. Then with less than five minutes left of the game, when they needed the game tying goal, they take three penalties. Two of which resulted in a 5-on-3 powerplay for USA.

And Johnny came very close to getting an empty net goal near the end of the game which would have resulted in a hat trick, but couldn’t get to the puck quick enough. Oh well. It’s also a good thing USA won in regulation because these three points were crucial since they lost to Germany in game 1 of the prelims.

So summary of Johnny’s game and why he got player of the game: Two goals, on the ice for another goal, and the last goal resulted from the pressure his line put on before they did a line change and USA kept that pressure and scored.

Safe to say he had quite the impact today.

Via USA Hockey:

“I liked our resolve and calm,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2017 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We got down early, but it didn’t faze anyone. I thought Jimmy Howard was outstanding and a real key to our success. We beat a very good hockey team tonight. It’s one win, but an important one.”

Johnny now has four points (3G 1A) in three games which is tied for second on the team. Right after line-mate Jack Eichel. His three goals is also tied for third overall in the IIHF. Good job Johnny. Making Flames fans proud.

Next: Monday Roundtable: Goaltending Edition

That’s all for now! I know it’s hard as a Canadian cheering for Team USA, but it’s exciting watching these young players, isn’t it? There’s no game tomorrow for either USA or Canada but make sure you tune in here on May 10th when Team USA plays, we’ll have analysis on that.