(WGR 550) – Both of the Buffalo Sabres Olympians got wins on Saturday. First it was Rasmus Dahlin and Team Sweden beating Slovakia 5-3 and then Tage Thompson and Team USA knocked off Denmark 6-3.
Sweden and Slovakia traded first period goals and Dahlin set up Los Angeles Kings winger Adrian Kempe in the second to give Sweden a 2-1 lead.
A pair of goals by Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson helped Sweden stretch its lead to 5-2 before Slovakia closed out the scoring.
In three games Dahlin has a goal and three assists for four points. That’s fourth overall in Olympic scoring. The Sabres captain lost one of his assists against Italy. Jesper Bratt’s shot was stopped, but it was ruled that before the rebound got to Gus Forsling who scored, the puck hit Lucas Raymond. Dahlin ended that game with two assists.
Dahlin played 24:27 in this game which led Sweden. He’s being used a lot more than he was during the 4-Nations Faceoff.
Sweden finished tied with Finland and Slovakia at 2-1-0, in Group B but finished third because of goal differential in head-to-head between the three teams.
Thompson had some decent opportunities on the United States power play. He only had one shot, but many of his attempts were just barely blocked or deflected. What I haven’t liked is for two games now, New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan has not only had J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck in the lineup when they shouldn’t even be on the team, but he’s breaking his neck to get his two Rangers playing time.
In the first game Sullivan was substituting Miller in for Thompson quite a bit and once or twice for Kyle Connor. Saturday it was Trocheck’s turn to be slotted in which kept Thompson’s ice-time down to 9:12 which is worst on the team. The only reason Trocheck and Miller are even on the team is because Rangers general manager Chris Drury is GM Bill Guerin’s right-hand man. It really is a joke that they’re not only on this team but are in the lineup when guys like Jason Robertson, Cole Caufield, Alex DeBrincat and Alex Tuch are much better players and sitting at home. It’s also a joke that Clayton Keller is not even dressing in the games for two players that don’t belong there.
Team USA finishes the round robin Sunday against Germany.