Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad sat out Team North America’s 4-3 loss to Russia last night at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Ekblad’s injury probably occurred when he took a high hit from Leo Komarov in Sunday’s game against Finland. The 20-year-old not only managed to finish that game, but continued to play at a very high level after receiving the blow.
Jacob Trouba of the Winnipeg Jets replaced Ekblad in the lineup against the Russians.
After Team North America took a 1-0 first period lead on Auston Matthews goal, Russia scored goals on four consecutive shots to chase Pittsburgh’s Matt Murray from the net.
The Russian goal-scorers were Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Kucherov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Morgan Rielly scored late in the second to stop the bleeding and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tallied in the third to pull North America within a goal, but the Russians managed to hold on by the skin of their teeth.
According to Team North America GM Peter Chiarelli, Ekblad is day-to-day so we could possibly see him back in action before the World Cup ends.
In other Monday action from Group A, surprising Team Europe edged the Czech Republic on Leon Draisaitl‘s overtime goal.
Today’s games are Finland (Barkov, Jokinen) versus Sweden at 3:00 p.m. and USA versus Canada at 8 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.