The IIHF World Championship semifinals took place on Saturday morning with the three remaining Vancouver Canucks battling for a chance to punc their ticket to the finals.
After Marcus Pettersson and Team Sweden eliminated his Canucks teammate Filip Hronek and Team Czechia in the quarterfinals, he was tasked with doing the same against Conor Garland, Drew O’Connor and the Americans.
New Jersey Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom for Team Sweden and Boston Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman were in between the pipes for this match.
Recently eliminated Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander took an early penalty, giving the tournament’s top-ranked power play a chance to get off to an early start. The Swedes managed to fend them off, but not for long.
Just under five minutes after the penalty kill, Nashville Predators defenceman Brady Skjei gets the Americans on the board with a simple wrist shot from the point that beats Markstrom up high:
1-0 USA.
And 10 minutes after opening the scoring, the Americans doubled their lead. San Jose Sharks rookie Will Smith picks up the puck along the wall and fires the puck on net. Ottawa Senators centre gets his shot blocked at the net front, and Anaheim Ducks winger Cutter Gauthier wins the race to the puck and fires a shot five-hole on Markstrom:
2-0 USA.
The Americans took that lead into the first intermission after dominating the Swedes 13-3 in shots.
It was a relatively quiet first-half of the second period, until the Canucks’ Conor Garland extended the Americans lead to three. After a shot toward the net from the right half-wall, Skjei picks up the puck and sends it back to Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley, who rips a one-timer on net. Markstrom can’t find the puck and lays down, but Garland had eyes on it and shovelled the puck in for his fifth goal of the tournament:
3-0 USA.
And things went from bad to worse for Pettersson and the Swedes later in the middle frame, when a pair of Seattle Kraken forwards connected to give the Americans their fourth goal of the game. Matty Beniers finds Michael Eyssimont on the rush, who rips a wrist shot through Markstrom’s glove:
4-0 USA.
The Swedes did have a better showing in the middle frame, outshooting the Americans 12-7, but found their deficit doubled to 4-0 heading into the second intermission. Sweden made a change in net, replacing Markstrom with Philadelphia Flyers netminder Samuel Ersson.
Nylander takes the puck from behind the net and throws it to the net front. Vegas Golden Knights centreman William Karlsson finds the puck, sends a soft backhand pass to Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson, who stays patient with the puck and finds an open Nylander through a seam for him to bury the puck and get the Swedes on the board:
4-1 USA.
Sweden built off this, finding their second goal 41 seconds later. Sharks centre Alex Wennberg grabs the puck along the boards and sends a quick pass to former Canuck and current Bruin Elias Lindholm in the slot for a one-timer that his NHL teammate Swayman doesn’t even see to cut the Americans lead in half:
4-2 USA.
Just when the Swedes thought they had life, Anaheim Ducks defenceman Jackson Lacombe put an end to their hopes of a comeback. Chicago Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar turns toward the boards and sends a backhand pass to a streaming Lacombe, who takes the open space in front of him, firing a wrist shot from the top of the circle, beating Ersson high short side:
5-2 USA.
Sweden would pull the goalie with 4:25 to go, but to no avail as Pinto found the empty net to secure the USA victory.
Garland was recognized for his strong tournament (five goals and 10 points in nine games), earning one of the top three players for Team USA.
USA will appear in the Gold Medal game for the first time since 1950. They will face the winner of Switzerland/Denmark, which is currently taking place. At the time of this writing, Switzerland holds a 4-0 lead.
Barring a miracle comeback by the Danes, it appears Canucks’ Conor Garland, Drew O’Connor and Team USA will be facing Switzerland for gold. In the preliminary round, the Swiss shut out the Americans 3-0. Garland and O’Connor will look to redeem themselves after that performance when it matters most.
The gold medal game will take place sometime on Sunday. We will update here when we have the exact local time so you can watch your Canucks fight for gold.
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