The Quarterfinal round is over at the IIHF World Championships and the action was of intense interest to the New York Rangers for two reasons.
The New York Rangers braintrust was watching the World Championship Quarterfinal round and came out of it with some interesting observations. One big question was answered and another huge challenge facing the team didn’t get any easier.
Hughes questions answered
The United States was eliminated by Russia 4-3 and Ranger Brady Skjei scored his second goal of the tournament. The big news out of the game was the performance of Jack Hughes. He was named the U.S. player of the game and finished with two assists. He had his best performance of the tournament and was clearly the best player on Team USA.
If there were any questions about whether he is going first in the NHL Entry Draft, for most observers, this game answered them. Believe me, Hughes is a rare talent and a game changer and if the Devils don’t pick him, they are crazy. He has speed, skill and smarts. He was very, very impressive and the fact that this was his response after being a healthy scratch in the last game was icing on the cake.
Lundqvist’s tournament
Sweden lost their quarterfinal match to Finland, 5-4 in overtime. The Finns scored in the first minute on a slapshot from the point, a shot that Lundqvist should have stopped. The winning goal was put in over Lundqvist’s shoulder, as he was slow to react, something that Rangers fans saw all too often this season. He stopped 27 of 32 shots and didn’t face a single power play.
Lundqvist started six games for Sweden, winning four. His GAA was 2.84 and his save percentage was .887. Those numbers are not good. Of the four NHL starting goaltenders in the tournament (Cory Schneider, Matt Murray, Andrei Vasilevskiy & Lundqvist) the Ranger netminder’s numbers were the worst by far.
The King’s performance has to raise questions for next fall with the rise of Alexandar Georgiev (two shutouts at the World Championships) and the arrival of Igor Shesterkin. If Shesterkin is as good as he is reputed to be, it is very possible that Henrik Lundqvist could be the third best goaltender in a Ranger uniform next season and that is a big problem.
Two fabulous games
Canada advanced to the semi-finals by beating Switzerland 3-2 in overtime. The Swiss were headed to a major upset when Canada tied the score with less than half a second left in the game. The puck literally trickled over the goal line as time ran out. Mark Stone went on to score in overtime and Canada gets to face the Czech Republic on Saturday.
The Czechs beat Germany handily 5-1. Filip Chytil play a little over eight minutes and didn’t get on the scoresheet.
The second fantastic game was Finland versus Sweden. As mentioned, Finland beat Sweden 5-4 in overtime after they tied the game with the goalie pulled and 1:29 left in the third period. It took them 1:37 to win the game in overtime on a odd man rush.
Kaapo Kakko was scoreless, but took four shots and was on the ice for three of the five Finland goals. Kakko was dominant again, one of the best Finnish players.
Finland will play an undefeated Russian team on Saturday.
The only Ranger player left in this tournament is Filip Chytil, but with Hughes cementing his hold on the top draft position, it will fun to see how Kakko does against the all-star team from Russia.
Both games will be televised on Saturday on the NHL Network. Game time for Russia-Finland is 9:15am EST. Canada and the Czech Republic will face off at 1:15pm EST.