It’s time for the second round of games to begin, and we have two teams looking for their first win, and two teams coming off upsets looking to keep the momentum going.
Europe vs Czech Republic, 3:30PM
ESPN, SN, TVA Sports / Watch ESPN & GCL
Europe: 1-0-0, 3GF, 0GA
1.Marian Gaborik 1G, 0A
2.Mats Zuccarello 0G, 1A
3.Christian Ehrhoff 0G, 1A
Jaroslav Halak - 1GP, 1.000sv%, 0.00GAA, 1SO
Czech Republic: 0-1-0, 0GF, 6GA
No scorers
Michal Neuvirth - 1GP, .880sv%, 6.00GAA
Coming off an amazing upset victory over Team USA, Europe is looking to continue their march towards the knockout stage with a win over the Czech Republic. The Czechs are going to be fighting for a victory of their own, after taking a 6-0 loss on opening night at the hands of Canada.
This is Europe's chance to show they aren’t just a bunch of also-rans clumped together, to fight off the beatings that North America gave them in the exhibition games and play spoiler to Team USA’s desperate attempt to recreate their 1996 victory. The Czechs need to score a goal. That should be their focus on this game, is getting on the scoresheet and looking somewhat respectable.
Potential Lines:
Czech Republic
Jakub Voracek - Tomas Plekanec - Milan Michalek
David Pastrnak - Martin Hanzal - Ondrej Palat
Ales Hemsky - Radek Faksa - Michael Frolik
Dmitrij Jaskin - Roman Cervenka - Michal Birner
Andrej Sustr - Jakub Nakladal
Roman Polak - Michal Kempny
Michal Jordan - Zbynek Michalek
Michael Neuvirth
Petr Mrazek
Europe
Tomas Tatar - Anze Kopitar - Marian Hossa
Marian Gaborik - Frans Nielsen - Mats Zuccarello
Nino Niederreiter - Leon Draisaitl - Tobias Reider
Thomas Vanek - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Jannik Hansen
Zdeno Chara - Andrej Sekera
Roman Josi - Dennis Seidenberg
Christian Ehrhoff - Mark Streit
Jaroslav Halak
Tomas Greiss
Russia vs North America, 8:00PM
ESPN2, SN, TVA Sports / Watch ESPN & GCL
Russia: 0-1-0, 1GF, 2GA
1.Alex Ovechkin 1G, 0A
2. Pavel Datsyuk 0G, 1A
3.Evgeni Malkin 0G, 1A
Sergei Bobrovsky - 1GP, .931sv%, 2.03GAA
North America: 1-0-0, 4GF, 1GA
1.Colton Parayko 0G, 2A
2.Nathan MacKinnon 1G, 0A
3.Auston Matthews 1G, 0A
Matthew Murray - 1GP, .960sv%, 1.00GAA
Last night the kids of North America defeated Finland in a 4-1 victory, and establishing themselves as contenders in a tournament where they were seen as a gimmick, and not expected to accomplish much. The Russians had a much closer battle against Sweden, losing 2-1 and seeing a tying goal be waved off in the dying seconds of the game.
Russia needs a win tonight to stay alive ahead of their final round robin game vs Finland on Thursday afternoon. If North America can get a win with a 3+ goal differential, they’ll have essentially sealed their spot in the knockout stage.
Potential Lines:
Russia
Nikita Kucherov - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Alex Ovechkin
Vladimir Tarasenko - Evgeni Malkin - Pavel Datsyuk
Evgeni Dadonov - Vadim Shipachyov - Artemi Panarin
Vladislav Namestnikov - Artem Anisimov - Ivan Telegin
Nikita Zaitsev - Dmitry Orlov
Alexei Emelin - Andrei Markov
Alexey Marchenko - Dmitry Kulikov
Semyon Varlamov
Sergei Bobrovsky
North America
Auston Matthews - Connor McDavid - Make Scheifele
Jonathan Drouin - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Nathan MacKinnon
Johnny Gaudreau - Jack Eichel - Dylan Larkin
Vincent Trochek - Sean Couturier - Brandon Saad
Morgan Rielly - Aaron Ekblad
Shayne Gostisbehere - Colton Parayko
Ryan Murray - Seth Jones
John Gibson
Matt Murray
Predictions
North America and Europe win their games and end up forcing their way into the knockout stages, getting everyone's hopes up for the Europe vs North America final before they get squashed down by Canada and Sweden