World Junior Hockey Championship 2017 Results: Thursday Group Scores, Reaction
The world's best junior hockey teams continued to jockey for position in group play Thursday at the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship as four games were contested in Toronto and Montreal.
Thursday's slate was arguably the best yet, as it featured rivalry games pitting the United States against Russia and Sweden against Finland. Also, host and gold-medal favorite Canada was in action, as was surprising Denmark.
The following is a full listing of results from Thursday's games, along with a recap of each contest and a rundown of how the group standings are shaping up.
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Thursday Scores
| A | Czech Republic vs. Denmark | 3-2, Denmark (OT) |
| B | United States vs. Russia | 3-2, United States |
| A | Sweden vs. Finland | 3-1, Sweden |
| B | Canada vs. Latvia | 10-2, Canada |
Group Standings
| 1 | Sweden | 3 | 3-0-0-0 | 13 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | Czech Republic | 3 | 1-0-2-0 | 7 | 8 | 5 |
| 3 | Denmark | 3 | 1-1-0-1 | 7 | 10 | 5 |
| 4 | Switzerland | 2 | 0-1-0-1 | 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 5 | Finland | 3 | 0-0-0-3 | 4 | 8 | 0 |
| 1 | Canada | 3 | 3-0-0-0 | 20 | 5 | 9 |
| 2 | United States | 3 | 3-0-0-0 | 14 | 5 | 9 |
| 3 | Russia | 3 | 1-0-0-2 | 14 | 9 | 3 |
| 4 | Slovakia | 2 | 0-0-0-2 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 | Latvia | 3 | 0-0-0-3 | 4 | 25 | 0 |
Thursday Recap
Denmark's Cinderella run at the World Junior Championship took another significant leap forward Thursday, as the Danes upset the Czech Republic 3-2 in overtime.
Just two days after shocking defending gold medalist Finland 3-2, Denmark overcame a third-period deficit to force overtime and win in dramatic fashion against the Czechs.
The Czech Republic lost in overtime to Switzerland two days earlier, and its misfortune in the extra period carried over to Thursday's action.
It took less than eight minutes for the Czechs to seize the lead in the first period, when highly touted 2017 NHL draft prospect Martin Necas beat Danish goalie Lasse Petersen.
As Zachary DeVine of the Hockey Writers pointed out, Necas was fearless in going to the dirty area of the ice to light the lamp:
While the Czech Republic carried that lead into the first intermission, Denmark managed to equalize less than nine minutes into the second frame, when Joachim Blichfeld showed great patience in working a wrist shot through a screen on the power play, as TSN showed:
Blichfeld's seeing-eye shot got past well-regarded Czech goaltender Daniel Vladar, which marked his second goal in as many games.
Much like it did against Switzerland on several occasions, however, the Czech Republic swayed the momentum back in its direction with a great individual effort by Filip Hronek to take back the lead at 2-1.
TSN shared the replay:
The Czechs again held the lead at intermission, but Saskatoon Blades analytics consultant Todd Cordell observed that Denmark was carrying the play:
"Czech Republic is being skated into the ground by Denmark this period. Lucky to be leading.
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) December 29, 2016"
That manifested itself with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation, when the Danes tied the game for the second time.
On that occasion, Nikolaj Krag took advantage of a wide-open net, as TSN shared:
Blichfeld was central in the goal with a beautiful pass, which was a continuation of the heroics he displayed with the game-winning goal against Finland.
That was good enough to force overtime, and Denmark needed less than one minute to close out the game.
With a ridiculous deke past the defender and a perfect backhand to beat Vladar, Mathias From gave Denmark its second win of the tournament and put it in great position for the knockout stage with one group game left to be played, via TSN:
Denmark didn't win its first WJC game until two years ago, and although it has reached the quarterfinals and avoided relegation in consecutive years, it is coming off two straight eighth-place finishes.
By virtue of Thursday's win, the Danes are essentially tied with the Czech Republic for second in Group A, and finishing there could give them a favorable and winnable game in the quarters.
This is shaping up to be the most successful WJC in Danish hockey history, and the team is talented enough to go even further.
The United States maintained its unbeaten start to the World Juniors with a 3-2 victory over Russia.
Clayton Keller got the U.S. on the board at 4:14 of the first period. His goal capped off a lengthy bit of possession by the United States, as they patiently waited for an opportunity to score.
Keller faked out a defenseman as well as Russian goaltender Ilya Samsonov before putting his team ahead. NHL Network shared a replay of the sequence:
The Americans' advantage lasted a little over seven minutes before Kirill Urakov scored a short-handed goal to tie the game. Taking advantage of an errant pass, Sergei Zborovsky knocked the puck off the boards ahead to Yakov Trenin. Trenin's pass to Urakov wasn't perfect, but the 19-year-old got his stick on the puck to direct it past Tyler Parsons.
Colin White and Troy Terry each scored in the United States' 5-2 win over Slovakia on Wednesday, and the pair delivered again Thursday. White gave the U.S. the lead at the 4:03 mark of the second period, and Terry tacked on another with 11:41 gone in the period.
Kirill Kaprizov ate into the deficit with 2:44 remaining in the second period.
Russia had a couple of chances to tie the game, but Parsons stepped up in the third period, making a pair of crucial saves.
With 10:06 left in the game, he sprawled out to deny Mikhail Vorobyov, courtesy of NHL Network:
Then, in the game's dying seconds, Parsons stonewalled Alexander Polunin. TSN shared a replay of the save:
Finland's back luck continued following a 3-1 defeat to Sweden on Thursday, the team's third straight loss to open the tournament.
Things began brightly for the Finns after Aapeli Rasanen scored a power-play goal in the first period. It marked the first time Finland had owned a lead at the World Juniors.
Rasanen was in the right place at the right time after Eeli Tolvanen's shot was blocked by Kristoffer Gunnarsson. The puck moved into the path of Rasanen, who reacted quickly to beat goaltender Felix Sandstrom.
Lias Andersson tied the game with 12:16 gone in the second period. Postmedia News' Michael Traikos thought the goal added to a rough stretch for Finland:
Alexander Nylander broke the deadlock in the third period and added another for good measure to propel Sweden to victory. Nylander's first in particular was a thing of beauty as a result of the quick passing between the Swedish players, courtesy of TSN:
With the win, Sweden ensured it'll finish atop Group A, having built a four-point lead with one more game to play.
The good news for Latvia is that the team matched its scoring output from its first two games. The bad news for the Latvians is that they allowed 10 goals to Canada on Thursday night.
Taylor Raddysh scored four goals and assisted on another in the blowout. According to Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun, Raddysh is one of four Canadians—joining Simon Gagne, Mario Lemieux and Brayden Schenn—to have four goals in a World Juniors game.
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