It was a busy day for New York Rangers prospects at the World Junior Championships on Monday. All three teams with future Blueshirts won, but it was Team Sweden where they were dominant.
Team Sweden played a dominant game in defeating Kazakhstan 6-2. New York Rangers prospects figured in two of the six goals for Sweden. First round pick Nils Lundkvist had two assists in 19:14 of ice time. Lundkvist has three assists in the tournament for undefeated Sweden.
On the Swedes third period sixth goal, it was all future New York Rangers on the set-up as Lucas Raymond scored with assists from Ranger prospects Lundkvist and Karl Henriksson.
Lucas Raymond gör 6-1 till Sverige, assisterad av Karl Henriksson och Nils Lundkvist. #WJC2020 #2020NHLDraft #PlayLikeANewYorker pic.twitter.com/LdXjAW7pnT
— Anton (@bolaniii9) December 30, 2019
You see Lundkvist (#27) get the puck to Henriksson (#22) behind the net who gets away from the defender to make the outstanding pass to Raymond in front of the net.
Henriksson now has a goal and an assist in three games. He has also won more faceoffs than he has lost (15-13). Considering the Blueshirts awful faceoff ability, a prospect who can win draws could become a valuable commodity.
Sweden has one more game in the Preliminary round, but they are a lock to make the Quarterfinals. On Tuesday, they face Slovakia in which could be a preview of the quarterfinals.
Team USA wins
The United States needed overtime to beat the Czech Republic, the host country for the tournament. Cole Caufield scored three minutes into the overtime to give the United States a 4-3 win. Ranger prospect K’Andre Miller assisted on the USA’s game tying second period goal, scored by Staten Island’s Arthur Kaliyev.
The other future Ranger on the US squad is Zac Jones and he wasn’t on the scoresheet.
Team USA finished the preliminary round with eight points and could finish first in Group B, depending on the outcome of Tuesday’s match between Canada and the Czech Republic. A Canada win in win or overtime will give them first place in the group,
Switzerland wins big
Team Switzerland won their second game in the preliminary round, defeating Slovakia 7-2. Nico Gross missed the game with an upper body injury and is expected to miss the final Swiss game of the preliminary round as well.
Switzerland will miss their Assistant Captain Nico Gross when they take on Finland on Tuesday. Win or lose, the Swiss are guaranteed a spot in the Quarterfinals.
The Quarterfinal round is held on Thursday with the Semifinals on Saturday and the Finals and consolation game on Sunday, January 5.
Ranger prospects scoring
Here are the scoring stats for the Rangers prospects in the tournament.
Nils Lundkvist – 3 games, 3 assists, 3 points, 0 PIM, +3 plus/minus, 21 minutes TOI, 28 shifts per game
Karl Henriksson – 3 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 2 PIM, -1 plus.minus, 13 minutes TOI, 19 shifts per game
Zac Jones – 4 games, 1 goal, 1 assist, 2 points, 0 PIM, +1 plus/minus, 17 minutes TOI, 22 shifts per game
K’Andre Miller – 4 games, 2 assists, 2 points, 2 PIM, +1 plus/minus, 19 minutes TOI, 29 shifts per game
Nico Gross – 2 games, 1 goal, 1 point, 2 PIM, -1 plus/minus, 13 minutes TOI, 23 shifts per game