Coming into this tournament, we didn’t really know what to expect from Team North America. Let’s just say we have a much better idea after tonight’s 4-1 win over Finland.
Team North America was as fast and as skilled as advertised, as they dominated Finland throughout the entire game.
Jack Eichel opened the scoring just 5:03 into the game with assists going to Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid.
The young guns had a number of scoring chances in the first period (they also had a disallowed goal because of goalie interference), but they went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
North America exploded for three goals in the second period. Johnny Gaudreau, Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon all beat Pekka Rinne in the middle frame.
Here are the three second period goals:
Valtteri Filppula got one back for Finland late in the third period.
Gaudreau said on deflection goal he was trying to get out of the way of Parayko's shot. "Parayko has a bomb. I didn't want it to hit me."
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 19, 2016
Finland looked overwhelmed by their opposition’s speed at times. The fact that Rinne had a number of nervous moments during the game didn’t help either. The Finns should consider going to Tuukka Rask in Tuesday’s must-win game against Team Sweden.
Finland goalie Pekka Rinne on @TeamNA_WCH: "They made my life hard. I was impressed by that team."
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithNHL) September 19, 2016
Each of the eight teams have played their opening game of the tournament. Although it’s still early, it looks like Canada and North America are the teams to beat right now.
Team North America will receive a lot of positive press after tonight’s performance, but it’ll be interesting to see if they get caught up in their own hype.
They won’t have much time to enjoy their first win, as they’ll take on a Russian side that should be desperate after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Sweden earlier today. That one goes tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. ET.
It’s safe to say that hockey fans everywhere were thoroughly impressed by what Team North America was able to do:
Worth noting the feared defensive gaffes from Team North America have not materialized. I spotted Matt Murray drinking a cup of tea earlier.
— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) September 19, 2016
I feel bad for the Finns.
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) September 19, 2016
I would have made this North America team if I was younger and better at hockey
— Beau Bennett (@BeauBennett19) September 19, 2016
Man, Team North America is fun as hell.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) September 19, 2016