(Due to some technical difficulties the recap for Day 2 did not get published. Our apologies.)
Sunday marked one of the two slower round robin days at this year’s world juniors, with only two games on the schedule compared to the regular four.
Neither game proved to be particularly dramatic, but it did provide some great viewing to see two of the tournament’s best teams showcasing their immense talents, with Russia taking down Switzerland 7-0 and the United States defeating Germany 6-0.
Both teams will be in action again in what could be a very interesting night of games on Monday.
Russia 7, Switzerland 0
12 different players scored points, while goaltender Igor Shestyorkin stopped all 32 shots that he faced as Russia manhandled Switzerland by a score of 7-0.
This year’s Russian squad doesn’t feature a de facto superstar offensive leader, like Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov were for Russia in past tournaments, but still has enough scoring depth to make them highly dangerous. New York Rangers prospect Pavel Buchnevich currently leads his team in scoring with three points from their first two games, but seven other players are all right behind with two points.
The Swiss looked great in a convincing 5-2 win over the Czech Republic on Saturday, but couldn’t seem to get anything going today against a more talented Russian team.
United States 6, Germany 0
Dylan Larkin’s goal at 15:04 of the second period all but put the game away, but he made sure to seal the deal, scoring again with less than a minute left in the third period to cap off a 6-0 United States win over Germany.
The game was as lopsided as the score suggests, with the American side controlling the puck from the very beginning and ending the night with a mammoth 53-14 shot advantage.
“I think we wore them down with our size and speed, and in the third period there we had a lot of chances,” Larkin said, according to NHL.com. “And give their goalie credit, he made a lot of good saves but I think we really wore them down.”
The outgunned German team, who barely avoided regulation at last year’s tournament, was shut out for the second game in a row. They showed some flashes of strong play in Saturday’s contest against Canada, but that was missing on Sunday.
“It was just a terrible effort from our team tonight,” said German forward Dominik Kahun. “If we didn’t have our goalie, it would have been like 15-0 or something. We just couldn’t play like yesterday, and it sucks.”
What’s Up Next:
The schedule for Monday’s game is as follows (all times listed as Central Time):
- Denmark versus Czech Republic at 12:00 PM: Both teams are still looking for their first win of the tournament, so this will be a crucial match-up to help determine which teams from Group B will advance to the playoffs.
- Slovakia versus United States at 3:00 PM: Slovakia got smoked 8-0 by Canada on opening night, but rebounded with a nice 2-1 win over Finland the next day. Which version will Team USA be facing on Monday night?
- Russia versus Sweden at 4:00 PM: This is the premiere round robin game for Group B, with the two strongest teams both coming in undefeated. Who will gain the upper hand and, more importantly, the likely bye in the elimination round?
- Finland versus Canada at 7:00 PM: The defending champion Finns are already up against the ropes, having lost their first two games and only scoring once in each. They’ll need to play perfectly against a powerhouse Canadian team that has already scored 12 goals, without allowing a single one in return./