(WGR 550) - On Wednesday it was Tage Thompson and Team USA advancing to the semi-finals over Rasmus Dahlin and Team Sweden 2-1 in overtime. It was a disappointing outcoming for Dahlin as his second Olympic Games are now finished.
In the second period Team USA struck first when Dylan Larkin tipped home a Jack Hughes shot from the point with Thompson charging the net. This goal will be a bitter one for Dahlin because he stepped up after Larkin won the faceoff and allowed him to get by him.
The score remained 1-0 until Sweden pulled New Jersey Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom for the extra attacker. Sweden’s best player in this tournament, Lucas Raymond of the Detroit Red Wings made a gorgeous cross-ice pass to Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers and he ripped a one-timer past Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck to send the game to overtime.
Team USA had all six overtime shots with Markstrom standing on his head, but he got fooled from the slot when he thought Quinn Hughes was going to shoot to his right, but scored off the post to his left to send Team USA to the next round on Friday against Slovakia. The Slovak’s earned their berth with a 6-2 victory over Germany.
Both goaltenders were stellar with Markstrom making 37 saves and Hellebuyck 28 saves.
Dahlin played five games and had a goal and four assists for five points and was plus-4. Sweden’s coach Sam Hallam, who I think should be fired, decided to only play Dahlin 19:19 on Wednesday and way overplay Erik Karlsson who was on the ice for 27:26. Just like the 4-National Faceoff, Dahlin never saw the ice in overtime and Karlsson was caught standing around watching the overtime winning goal. That same scenario played out in two overtimes in the 4-Nations. Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning got hurt in warmup and just sat on the bench and didn’t play.
I talked about Raymond being Sweden’s best player, he’s tied for second in scoring with Canada’s maclin Celebrini. Raymond had nine points in five games.
Team Canada had to go to overtime against Czechia without its captain Sidney Crosby who left, favoring his knee. Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki took Crosby’s place on his line and tipped in the game tying goal with just 3:27 left.
In overtime, 19-year-old Celebrini found Vegas Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner streaking up the middle and he walked in and put a nice mover on Anaheim Ducks netminder Lukas Dostal to send Canada to the semi-finals against Finland which beat Switzerland in overtime 3-2. Credit Colorado Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen with the game-winner in that game.
Connor McDavid is still the tournament's leading scorer with 11 points in four games.
Hellebuyck leads all goalies with a 3-0-0 record to go with a 0.98 goals against amd .958 save percentage. Finland’s Jusse Saros of the Nashville Predators is 3-0-0 with a 1.49 goals against and .938 save percentage. Canada’s Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues is 3-0-0 with a 1.65 goals against and .922 save percentage.