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2016 World Junior Championship Day Three Recap: Canada Gets First Win, Sweden Drops USA And Finland Blows 3-1 Lead

Day three of the 2016 World Junior Championship saw four heavyweights face off against each other. The Americans faced Sweden whilst the hosts Finland played Russia.

It was a busy day with four games being played throughout the day.

Slovakia 0 – Czech Republic 2

The game between these two neighbouring rivals was a close affair for over half an hour. However it was David Pastrnak who blew the game open.

The Boston Bruins prospect got a powerplay goal in one of his first games back after sustaining a fractured foot earlier this year.

Dominik Lakatos put the game away with less than ten minutes to go with an equal strength goal that put the Czechs ahead 2-0.

Last year’s tournament saw the Slovaks beat the Czechs in the quarter finals, something that motivated the Czechs to make sure they beat their neighbours this year.

Sweden 1 – USA 0

It was another close game between two of the top contenders in this year’s tournament, both goaltenders made excellent saves to keep the contest close.

The single goal that separated the two teams was scored by 2016 NHL Draft prospect, Alexander Nylander. Nylander, the younger brother of Toronto Maple Leafs prospect William Nylander, got the go ahead goal early in the second period.

Both teams tested each others goaltenders and Carolina Hurricanes prospect Alex Nedeljkovic made several key saves that kept the Americans in the game through the third period.

Even with seven powerplay opportunities the Americans couldn’t score.

However in the end the USA weren’t able to get the puck past Linus Soderstrom. Although I didn’t watch the game it seems that the Americans dominated most of the game but simply weren’t able to score.

Russia 6 – Finland 4

The hosts Finland had got off to a very good start to the tournament but they blew a two goal lead to lose.

In contrast with the Sweden-USA game this was a high scoring affair with special team goals aplenty.

The Finns jumped out to a 3-1 lead by early in the second period thanks to goals from Sebastian Aho, Patrik Laine and Aleksi Saarela.

However the Russians would respond with four goals in ten minutes in the second period to grab a 5-3 lead. The Russians scored one shorthanded goal, a pair of powerplay goals and an even strength goal.

Andrei Svetlakov got the shorthanded goal while Pavel Kraskovski and Vladislav Kamenev got the powerplay goals.

Aleksi Saarela got the Finns within one, scoring just over a minute into the third period. Radel Fazleyev got the Russians their sixth goal which sealed the victory.

Dallas Stars prospect Roope Hintz finished pointless in the game and finished with a minus two rating.

Canada 6 – Denmark 1

After a close loss to the United States in their opening game the Canadians needed to make a statement with their second game against Denmark.

The Canadians pouring shots onto the Danes, with 58 shots being registered throughout the game. They thought they had got a goal within 30 seconds of the puck being dropped but a video review cancelled the goal.

The Danes were the first to get on the scoreboard, getting a shot past Mason McDonald 12 minutes into the first period. However just over a minute later the Canadians responded with a goal from Anthony Beauvillier.

What followed was a four goal second period by Canada who got a stranglehold on the game to put it away. John Quenneville, Matt Barzal, Lawson Crouse and Mitch Marner each got a goal in the period.

Dylan Strome would make it 6-1 on the powerplay early in the third period after Thomas Olsen took a roughing penalty. The Danes would also take three delay of game penalties although Canada was not able to take advantage of them.

Whats on tomorrow?

Belarus versus Russia 8am

Switzerland versus Canada 12pm

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