The 2015 IIHF World Championship finished up preliminary round action with six games yesterday. Four of the matches involved members of the Florida Panthers. Five of the six Cats playing in the tournament will advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played on Thursday, with only the Tomas Kopecky captained Slovak team not making it past the group stage.
Finland 3, Russia 2 (SO): Aleksander Barkov scored a goal and added an assist and Jussi Jokinen finished with two helpers as Finland took second place in Group B with a shootout win over Russia. Joonas Donskoi scored the winner in the skills competition. Barkov bagged a second period power-play marker from Janne Pesonen and his Panther teammate, Jokinen. The Cats duo combined to set up Donskoi’s game-tying goal in the third period. Barkov finished the game with 4 shots on goal and an even rating in 19:27 TOI. Jokinen logged 16:13 of ice and took 2 shots on goal and posted an even rating. Both players were denied in the shootout. Dmitry Kulikov took 2 shots on net and finished with an even rating in 21:31 TOI for the Russians. For more click here
Canada 10, Austria 1: Mighty Canada wrapped up group play a perfect 7-0 with a 10-1 demolishing of Austria. With the loss, the Austrians were relegated. Matt Duchene and Jason Spezza each collected two goals and two assists in the rout. Aaron Ekblad bagged his fourth goal of the tourney to put his team up 4-0 in the first period. Ekblad finished the game with 3 shots on goal and a+3 rating in 16:02 TOI. For more click here
USA 5, Slovakia 4 (OT): Jack Eichel’s overtime winner gave the Americans a wild 5-4 win over Slovakia. The victory allowed the surprising U.S. team to clinch the top spot in Group B. Tomas Kopecky drew the secondary helper on Vladimir Dravecky‘s goal which tied the game at three after the Americans had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Kopecky finished the game with 2 shots on goal and an even rating in 14:05 TOI. For more click here
Czech Republic 2, Switzerland 1 (SO): Michal Vondrka notched the shootout winner to give the host Czechs the win over Switzerland. Jaromir Jagr played just 1:55, finishing with no points or shots and an even rating. For more click here
Other results
Belarus 3, Norway 2: Andrei Kostitsyn scored the deciding goal as Belarus advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-2 win over Norway. For more click here
France 3, Latvia 2 (SO): France rallied from a two-goal deficit to edge Latvia in a shootout. The result allowed both teams to escape relegation. For more click here
Quarterfinals (May 14)
A1) Canada (Ekblad) vs. B4) Belarus
B2) Finland (Barkov, Jokinen) vs. A3) Czech Republic (Jagr)
B1) United States vs. A4) Switzerland
A2) Sweden vs. B3) Russia (Kulikov)