This evening the tournament began anew and the Canadians made good. The first period was utterly dominant hockey as the Canadians out-chanced the Germans 5:1 at the very least. If we're a little less generous with the scoring chances, the ratio doesn't have a 1 in it. But the period ended 1-0 in actual goals and though the worry wasn't palpable, many chances and few goals has been a disconcerting theme over the last two games. So when eight pucks had been deposited behind Thomas Greiss by game's end everyone could breathe a sigh of relief. Or call out for the Russians.
Indeed, with five minutes left in the third period the black eagle had already been vanquished. The second German goal nothing more than one last hopeless cry: "I'll bite your legs off!" Sorry Germany, the Canadians have already started clapping their coconuts and walked off. Now the double-headed bird-monstrosity awaits. Ovechkin and Malkin wait impatiently for glory and will not be easily denied. It promises to be a wonderful night of hockey. I can hardly wait.
But now Latvia and the Czechs are going to OT. For more detail-oriented analysis on Canada-Germany, it's after the jump. But first, go cheer on the Latvians.
Below this little paragraph is the play-by-play for the Canadian side from tonight's game. I'll give some opinion on it after the data. The players will be marked by their jersey numbers for ease of writing but I'll provide a legend first:
2 - Duncan Keith
6 - Shea Weber
7 - Brent Seabrook
8 - Drew Doughty
10 - Brenden Morrow
11 - Patrick Marleau
12 - Jarome Iginla
15 - Dany Heatley
16 - Jonathan Toews
18 - Mike Richards
19 - Joe Thornton
20 - Chris Pronger
21 - Eric Staal
22 - Dan Boyle
24 - Corey Perry
27 - Scott Niedermayer
37 - Patrice Bergeron
51 - Ryan Getzlaf
61 - Rick Nash
87 - Sidney Crosby
First Period
61-51-24 and 27-06 NZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-08 NZ FO
15-19-11 and 22-20
10-16-18 and 27-07
61-51-24 and 02-08
61-51-24 and 02-08 OZ FO Icing
21-87-12 and 22-20
21-87-12 and 27-06
15-19-11 and 27-06 OZ FO
15-19-11 and 27-06 OZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-07 OZ FO end in Ger. penalty in their DZ
15-19-11 and 22-06 OZ FO PP
21-87-12 and 08-02 OZ FO PP penalty ends
21-87-12 and 08-02
21-16-18 and 08-02
10-16-18 and 20-07 NZ FO
61-51-37 and 27-06 DZ FO with 51 on FO and 37 to bench after clear
61-51-24 and 27-06
15-19-11 and 08-02
15-19-11 and 08-02 NZ FO
15-19-11 and 08-02 DZ FO Icing, ends in Cdn. GOAL
21-87-12 and 20-22 NZ FO
10-16-18 and 02-08
61-51-24 and 27-06
15-19-11 and 20-07 OZ FO Icing
21-87-12 and 22-08
10-16-18 and 22-08 OZ FO
21-87-12 and 27-06 OZ FO Icing
61-51-24 and 20-07
15-19-11 and 20-07
15-19-11 and 02-08 NZ FO
10-16-18 and 27-22
21-87-12 and 27-22
21-87-12 and 20-22
61-51-24 and 20-07
15-19-11 and 02-08
16-19-11 and 27-06 DZ FO with 19 on FO and 16 to bench after clear
15-19-11 and 27-06
Second Period
61-51-24 and 27-06 NZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-08 OZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-08 OZ FO
15-19-11 and 20-22
10-16-18 and 27-06 OZ Icing, ends in Cdn. GOAL
61-51-24 and 02-08 NZ FO ends in Ger. penalty in their DZ
21-87-12 and 02-08 OZ FO ends in Cdn. GOAL
15-19-11 and 20-07 NZ FO ends in Cdn. penalty in OZ
37-10 and 27-06 DZ FO
16-18 and 27-06
37-19 and 02-08 DZ FO with 37 on FO and 19 to bench after clear
37-10 and 02-08
16-18 and 27-06
87-21 and 27-06 NZ FO penalty ends
15-87-21 and 27-06 ends in Cdn. penalty in DZ
37-10 and 20-07 DZ FO
16-18 and 20-07
11-61 and 02-06
37-10 and 22-08 OZ FO penalty ends
21-87-12 and 22-08 ends in Cdn. GOAL
61-51-24 and 20-06 NZ FO
15-19-11 and 02-22 OZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-22 OZ FO
61-37-24 and 27-07 ends in Cdn. penalty shot (Crosby misses)
10-16-18 and 20-08 OZ FO
21-87-12 and 27-07
15-19-11 and 02-06
61-51-24 and 20-22
10-16-18 and 27-06
21-87-12 and 27-07
21-87-12 and 02-07 OZ FO
15-87-11 and 02-22 ends in Ger. GOAL
15-19-11 and 20-22 NZ FO
10-16-18 and 27-06 DZ FO
10-16-24 and 27-06
61-51-24 and 27-08
61-51-24 and 02-08 DZ FO
21-87-12 and 20-07
Third Period
61-51-24 and 27-06 NZ FO
21-87-12 and 27-06
21-87-12 and 02-08 ends in Cdn. GOAL
15-19-11 and 20-22 NZ FO
10-16-18 and 08-07
61-51-24 and 27-06
21-87-12 and 02-22
15-19-11 and 20-07
15-19-11 and 20-07 NZ FO
61-51-37 and 20-07 NZ FO
10-16-18 and 08-06 ends in Cdn. GOAL
21-87-12 and 27-22 NZ FO
15-19-11 and 02-07 NZ FO
61-37-24 and 20-22
61-37-24 and 20-22 DZ FO
61-37-24 and 20-27
61-37-24 and 20-27 DZ FO Icing ends in Cdn. penalty in DZ
16-10 and 02-08 DZ FO
16-18 and 02-20
37-10 and 20-06
11-61 and 20-06 NZ FO
37-18 and 02-07
87-21 and 02-07 penalty ends
21-87-27 and 02-07 ends in Cdn. GOAL
10-51-24 and 20-22 NZ FO
10-51-24 and 20-22 OZ FO
15-19-11 and 20-22
15-19-11 and 08-07
61-16-18 and 08-07
61-16-18 and 08-07 DZ FO
21-87-12 and 02-06 NZ FO
61-16-18 and 02-06
61-16-18 and 02-06 DZ FO Icing
61-16-18 and 20-22
10-51-24 and 20-22
15-37-11 and 27-07 OZ FO
37-19-11 and 27-07 OZ FO Icing
61-16-18 and 20-22 ends in Cdn. GOAL
21-87-12 and 20-22 NZ FO
21-87-12 and 20-22 DZ FO
10-51-24 and 20-22
10-51-24 and 08-06 OZ FO
15-19-37 and 02-07 ends in Ger. GOAL
61-16-18 and 27-06 NZ FO
10-37-24 and 20-22
End of Game
I think that the first period in this game will probably be more helpful for determining what the Canadians will be doing on the whole as we go forward. The third period saw quite a bit of mop-up time in which various players started getting ice time they won't get in closer games. To illustrate, Patrice Bergeron had more EV shifts in the third period than he did in the first (one, and it was under twenty seconds for a DZ draw). He's not likely to be in the plans at EV against the Russians except for possibly the odd DZ draw (Toews took an extra DZ draw this game, Thornton last game).
On defence, Keith-Doughty, Niedermayer-Weber and Pronger-Boyle seem to be set. Seabrook was the extra in that arrangement. They all ended up playing quite a bit in this one but those three pairs, and especially the first two, are going to be handling the most ice time against Russia tomorrow.
At forward, they spent most of the first period rolling lines at EV with a couple of exceptions. Both times the coaches broke cadence it was for a faceoff in the offensive zone and Canada rolled out Crosby's line. In the first instance the sequence ended with a German penalty so the cadence didn't come back until after the PP. In the second instance it was after an icing call with some weaker German players trapped, but the Germans managed to get the puck out without a problem. After that, the Canadians rolled into a new cadence with the forwards (from 51-87-19-16 to 87-51-19-16). No effort to match from the coaches in the first, but why would you? It's the Germans. It'll be interesting to see if that changes against Russia tomorrow.
The one thing that I think might carry-over from the third period is the switch of Morrow and Nash. For the last half of the third period Morrow played with Getzlaf and Perry and looked good. Nash went down to play with Toews and Richards, a unit that helped Rick Nash get his first goal of the tournament. I could see those groups playing together tomorrow against the Russians, at least until (if) they drop down to three lines later in the game.