Never underestimate the presence of a hot goaltender in a short tournament - or the presence of a faulty one.
American goaltender Ryan Miller put forth an excellent effort Sunday in Vancouver, stopping 42 of 45 shots, and clearly outplaying the Canadians' Martin Brodeur on the way to a 5-3 American victory. While Miller continually came up with big saves at big times, Brodeur not only failed to do the same, but also struggled mightily in handling the puck - shocking, considering that he's the undisputed best puck handling goalie in the history of the game.
The American defensive group - which received great performances from Brian Rafalski, Ryan Suter, Brooks Orpik, and more surprisingly, 21-year old Erik Johnson and 23-year old Jack Johnson - turned in a gutsy effort against an extraordinarily talented Canadian offensive group. Were there too many mistakes? Certainly, but against a team like the Canadians that was to be expected. The American defense did their best to keep things simple - they were able to keep the Canadians on the perimeter much better than I anticipated, essentially eliminated odd-man rush opportunities for Canada, and even received big offensive contributions from Rafalski and Suter.
My hat's off to Ron Wilson for the way he utilized his forwards. It was clear right off of the bat that the Phil Kessel - Joe Pavelski - Ryan Malone unit didn't come to play. They struggled to get the puck out of their own defensive zone, and were a combined minus four between the three of them. Wilson essentially sat them down for the majority of the game after the first period, and decided to go with the grittier fowards deserving of more ice time - David Backes, Ryan Callahan, and Chris Drury.
Chris Drury has proved the several critics wrong who claimed that he shouldn't have been given a spot on the U.S.A. roster. Not only did he come up with a huge goal in yesterday's game - his second in as many games - but his efforts alongside Rangers' teammate Ryan Callahan while short-handed were much-needed. Drury and Callahan continually lay their bodies on the line, whether it be to block a shot or get the puck out of the defensive zone.
For the Canadians, it's back to the drawing board. They outplayed the Americans, but received an inadequate performance in goal from Brodeur, which was compounded by their inability to beat Miller. But their biggest problem going forward is that they are still receiving atrocious performance after atrocious performance from far too many of their top players.
Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Thornton were invisible. Getzlaf needs to get more involved everywhere - offensively, physically, and around the net - while Thornton simply needs to grow a pair - this guy proves time and again that he's softer than Liberace in the PlayBoy Mansion. He packs it in every time the going gets tough in the NHL playoffs, and thus far the Olympics have been no different.
Corey Perry's level of effort was downright embarrassing, culminating with Ryan Kesler's unbelievable empty-net goal, in which he outhustled a dilly-dallying Perry.
Defensively, the Canadians are still receiving poor efforts from veterans Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, and Dan Boyle. Niedermayer has been downright bad all tournament. Pronger turned in one of the worst performances I've ever seen from the big guy. Boyle was simply ineffective.
Expect the youth movement to continue defensively for Canada for the duration of the tournament. Drew Doughty showed why anyone who thought he was too young and inexperienced to have a place on the Canadian roster clearly hasn't watched any Kings' games this season, while Duncan Keith - probably the front-runner for the Norris Trophy - shook off the clearly-visible jitters from his first two games and turned in his best performance of the tournament. Keith led the way with over 24 minutes yesterday, with Doughty right behind him at 23:20. No other Canadian defensemen played more than 19:09.
The Americans grinded out the win with heart, hustle, and above all, a stellar performance by Ryan Miller...
In the first game of yesterday's trio of action, Russia's top guns were able to lead their squad to a 4-2 defeat of the Czech Republic.
Evgeni Malkin was the driving force offensively for the Russians, finishing with two goals and a helper, and Pavel Datsyuk put forth a masterful defensive game, while also chipping in with an empty-net goal and an assist.
But for the turning point of the game, look no further than Alex Ovechkin's absolute bomb of a hit on Jaromir Jagr.
Seconds before Malkin's second goal of the game, giving the Russians' a two-goal third period lead, Ovechkin absolutely steamrolled Jagr after the latter tried to cut back at center ice. Said Jagr of the hit, "I wish I had a concussion. That way I would forget Ovechkin quicker."
Ovechkin had two assists, numerous chances, and a plethora of big hits. The guy can change the course of the game as quickly with his body as he can with his world-class release.
For the Czechs, I thought Tomas Vokoun could've played better. He wasn't "bad" by any means, but he needs to come up with a stop on one of the three Russian goals that were put by him. On both of Malkin's goals he was slowing moving to his left, and he overcommitted to his left on the Viktor Kozlov marker.
The Czechs played well defensively, but they didn't generate enough offensively. I expect their power play to be much better going forward...
The Sweden/Finland game was thoroughly dominated by the Swedes.
Nicklas Backstrom netted a goal and two assists, while Henrik Lundqvist registered his second shutout in his second appearance of the tournament. Loui Eriksson was the recipient of two great Backstrom passes right in front of the Finnish goal crease, allowing him to notch his second and third goals of the Games.
One thing that really stuck out to me was the distribution of ice time for Sweden's defensemen.
Swedish Coach Bengt Ake Gustafsson has been using Nicklas Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall very sparingly on the power play, using them for more taxing defensive minutes, instead. On the other side of the spectrum, Tobias Enstrom and Magnus Johansson played almost exclusively on the power play.
It may seem foolish to give Lidstrom and Kronwall so little time on the power play, but it's a great stroke of genius by Gustafsson. Any time Lidstrom and Kronwall are on the ice at even strength, Sweden is going to be a "plus" team regardless of their opponent. By allowing them to play more than they would normally at even strength, Gustafsson ensures that Sweden garners this competitive edge for essentially 45-50% of the time Sweden is playing at 5-on-5. Enstrom and Johansson are more than capable of performing well manning the points on the power play. These moves put Enstrom and Johansson in positions to succeed, while also making Sweden that much harder to play against 5-on-5...
Looking ahead to the playoff round of the tournament, it appears as if the Americans will have the most desirable path to the Gold Medal Game. After their bye to the quarterfinals, they will tangle with either the Swiss or Belarus. If they are able to win that match, they will likely play either the Czechs or Finns in the semifinals. Essentially, the Americans will not have to face Canada, Russia, or Sweden prior to the Gold Medal Game if they are able to make it that far - a huge plus.
The most interesting fallout from the seedings for the playoff round - the Canadians will faceoff against the Russians in the quarterfinals assuming that they are able to get by the Germans. One of these teams will be going home much earlier than expected...
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