Calgary Flames at the World Championship: May 14th Recap

Oh boy has the Calgary Flames superstar, Johnny Gaudreau, been phenomenal during the World Championship. Let’s check out how he did today.

I guess there’s a reason they call him Johnny Hockey. But Johnny Gaudreau of the Calgary Flames continues to improve game after game. With former Boston College teammate, Kevin Hayes, recently joining Team USA, those two today were easily the two best players on the ice. So much so that Hayes won player of the game.

USA opened up the scoring against Team Slovakia eight minutes into the game. USA also took two penalties in that opening 20-minute frame, but they managed to kill both of them off. Slovakia went 0/3 on the powerplay today.

Then second period started and with some back and forth puck movement between Hayes and Gaudreau, Gaudreau found the back of the net. In this game, Gaudreau would end up getting another goal (of course, assisted by Hayes) and an assist giving him three points this game. Actually, funnily enough, Hayes and another Flame, Matthew Tkachuk, are cousins. Small world, hey?

Mar 18, 2017; Saint Paul, MN, USA; New York Rangers forward Kevin Hayes (13) against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Rangers defeated the Wild 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Johnny is now leading Team USA in goals (6) and points (9). Furthermore, he’s tied for third out of all players at IIHF for points (first and second place are just one point ahead of him) and he’s also tied for first in goals. Safe to say that this kid has a big impact. In fact, the only game that USA lost was the first game of the tournament against Team Germany and that was the only game that Gaudreau didn’t have a point in. He is now on a five-game point streak. Keep it up, kid.

Via IIHF Worlds 2017:

"“Kevin and Johnny played together at Boston College and Bjugstad was good on that line as well.” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2017 U.S. Men’s National Team.“Against Russia we have to limit the time and space as much as we can, even though that’s difficult on the bigger ice here.” Skjei said. “When those guys get time to make plays they’ve got a ton of skill. We have to limit that and counter with our skill, it should make it a good game.”"

Team USA and Team Canada also played yesterday (not against eachother), but Flames goaltender Chad Johnson wasn’t in net for that. They lost 3-2 in overtime against Team Switzerland, their first loss of the tournament. Since it seems like Calvin Pickard and Chad Johnson have been going back and forth each game for who’s starting, we can assume Johnson will be in net against Norway tomorrow.

USA however won 5-3 against Team Latvia yesterday, in which Johnny had a goal which ended up being the game-tying goal. Yay Johnny!

Next: Sean Monahan - Sixth Heaven

That’s all for now! Let’s hope with two former teammates playing together again, Johnny can continue to lead all skaters at the IIHF and come back to Calgary feeling strong.