Calgary Flames at World Championship: Day three recap

Three members of the Calgary Flames were in action on the third day of the World Championship. Let’s check out how they fared.

The Calgary Flames had three members in action on Sunday at the Worlds: Bill Peters Team Canada group, Mikael Backlund captaining Team Sweden, and David Rittich between the pipes for team Czech. Let’s check out how each player did.

Bill Peters – Team Canada

Team Canada had a dominating 10-0 win over Team Korea. A much better outcome than their 5-4 shootout loss to Team USA on the opening day of the World Championship. Peters made the wise decision to put Curtis McElhinney in net over Darcy Kuemper, who had a subpar performance on Friday. McElhinney stopped all 22 shots he faced while the Canadians put up 45 shots at the other end of the rink.

Canada sits in third place in Group B with four points. Their next game is Monday at 12:15 pm MT when they face Team Denmark.

Mikael Backlund vs David Rittich

Team Sweden went against Team Czech today, meaning Backlund against Rittich. David Rittich made his first ever World Championship start for the Czechs. While it was assumed he was going to serve as Pavel Francouz’s backup, after Francouz let in two goals on just 17 shots in the Czech’s exciting OT win against the Slovaks, people were anticipating Rittich to get the start against Sweden. Unfortunately for Sweden, they couldn’t come back like they did against Slovakia and lost 3-2 in regulation. Rittich stopped 24 of 27 shots, which is quite good for his first ever Worlds start against a strong Swedish team.

Backlund, on the other end of the rink, didn’t put up any points. However, he had two shots and won seven of 12 faceoffs.

Next: Flames at Worlds: Schedules, what to watch for

Sweden is currently tied for first in Group A with six points while the Czechs sit in fifth in Group A with two points. Sweden’s next game is Monday against France at 12:15 pm MT and the Czech Republic will play again on Tuesday against Team Switzerland.