Sochi 2014: Mens Results Group C 02/12

Sweden v Czech Republic 4-2 - Sweden needed little more than 24 minutes to prove their status as gold-medal contenders in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The final 35-plus minutes of the game showed the Swedes how much work they still have to do if they want to reach the top of the medal stand Feb. 23. The Swedes zipped the puck around and scored four goals in the first 24:07 of the game Wednesday, chasing Czech Republic starting goalie Jakub Kovar and giving themselves the cushion they needed for a 4-2 victory in front of a jam-packed and definitely pro-Czech crowd of 11,419 at Bolshoy Ice Dome on the first night of the tournament.
"I got some action early on but after that it was pretty quiet in my end and we played really well. The pucks started going in so we felt this was going to be a nice ride for us," Sweden goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. "But things changed."
The Czechs made Sweden work for the win thanks to a strong third-period push following back-to-back goals from New Jersey Devils teammates Marek Zidlicky and Jaromir Jagr midway through the second. They more than doubled their shot total in the third period with 15 and had three power plays within the first 8:28, but Sweden preserved the two-goal lead because its penalty killers were as strong as Lundqvist. Lundqvist finished the night with 27 saves and defenseman Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson provided some of the offensive punch with a combined four points (two goals for Karlsson, two assists for Ekman-Larsson) to pace Sweden to a win that left them feeling strong, confident and yet still somewhat vulnerable.

"It's easy to say now because we won the game but I think it became a good test for us instead of running away, scoring four or five goals and just play it out," Sweden forward Daniel Alfredsson said. "We had to play all the way until the end and I think it showed that the last half of the second and early third we were under a lot of pressure and we have to be able to weather that a little bit better than we did [Wednesday]."

Czech coach Alois Hadamczik made the surprising and somewhat controversial decision to start Kovar, a two-time bronze medalist in the IIHF World Championship, ahead of the Winnipeg Jets' Ondrej Pavelec, the only NHL goalie on the roster. Pavelec didn't dress for the game as Hadamczik explained he was giving Pavelec some extra time to adjust his body clock after coming from 10 time zones away. Kovar, though, gave up three goals on 10 shots and was pulled 51 seconds into the second period. Alexander Salak came in and gave up a goal on the first shot he faced before settling in to stop the final 14 shots he saw. None of them mattered because the Czechs couldn't make up for what happened within the first 24:07, when Patrik Berglund and Henrik Zetterberg sandwiched goals around Karlsson's two to give Sweden a 4-0 lead.

"I went into the game and there was nothing to lose," Salak said. "I tried to battle hard and even if they scored on the first shot we still played aggressive, we played a good game. That was very important. I'm very proud of my teammates; they backed me up [Wednesday]."

If they had done the same thing for Kovar they might have had a chance to win the game. Instead Czech forward Patrik Elias said his team was far too passive in the first half of the game. The Swedes were able to win faceoffs, control the puck and get to the front of the net for screens. Kovar was beaten by Karlsson's slap shot through an Alfredsson screen during a delayed penalty 10:07 into the game. He couldn't stop Berglund’s short-side shot past his blocker off the rush 3:10 later. The kicker came 51 seconds into the second period when Zetterberg scored on a slap shot through an Alexander Steen screen.

"We were just sitting back too much," Elias said. "We were passive. We didn't go. We backed off. We talked about being patient without the puck but that's what we did for the whole period. We got in trouble with the penalties, they scored on it. That's simplified but that was the reason."

It wasn't until after Karlsson scored his second goal, on another slap shot through a screen on a power play, that the Czechs started moving their feet and pushing the pace. Zidlicky ripped a high, hard shot from the right circle into the net at the 8:12 mark of the second period and Jagr scored with a one-handed shot past Lundqvist’s right pad just 1:49 later. The Czechs didn't back off, but the Swedes didn't seem to mind either. They showed some warts, but at least now they have some things to focus on in practice Thursday. If they had won in a rout then the Swedes wouldn't feel as battle-tested as they do now and Lundqvist still would be waiting to feel the heat in what is expected to blossom into an intense, pressure-packed tournament for him and his countrymen.

"You don't want a game to go perfectly. You want a test," Lundqvist said. "I think it's good for the morale and good for the group here to regroup a little bit."

Latvia v Switzerland 0-1 - Switzerland came to the 2014 Sochi Olympics looking to continue its upward mobility in the international hockey power structure. The Swiss can add "ability to survive a scare from an inferior opponent" to its dossier as a burgeoning contender. Latvia goaltender Edgars Masalskis stopped the first 38 shots he faced but a tough break on No. 39, from Nashville Predators forward Simon Moser with 7.9 seconds left in regulation, proved the difference Wednesday in a 1-0 victory for Switzerland in the two teams' opening games in Group C at Shayba Arena. The Swiss outshot the Latvians 39-21, but Masalskis authored a masterful performance to give his country a chance for a monumental upset.

"I probably never in my life played a game like that," Switzerland and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Mark Streit said. "It is the first game. It was a tough one. Their goalie played unbelievable. Our goalie played really well too. I thought we had a little more scoring chances than they did but they played well. It went to the end. … It was a little bit nerve-racking but we stuck with it and stayed positive and it worked out in the end. We got lucky a little bit but sometimes that's what you need. It is a big relief for us."

Latvia forward Lauris Darzins was checked behind the Swiss net and injured on the play. He was slow to get up and when he got to the bench there was a delay in someone replacing him. Moser carried the puck into the left corner of the Latvian zone. The delayed change afforded the Swiss an extra-man situation, and Latvia's defensive-zone coverage was left to scramble. Moser threw the puck toward the net and it hit defenseman Georgijs Pujacs and slid across the goal line.

"We got better and better [Wednesday] and showed that we can really compete," Latvia coach Ted Nolan said. "Unfortunately it's a game of mistakes and we made one when it mattered the most. … One of our players got hit behind the boards. It was a 5-on-4 situation and we still had the puck. If we just would have thrown it in deep maybe we would have been able to kill off the last nine seconds."

Switzerland has been seen as an improving nation in hockey for years, but the Swiss broke through and earned a silver medal at the 2013 IIHF World Championship. With Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller leading a group of NHL players on the roster that continues to increase in number, the Swiss would like to make it two strong performances in major tournaments in a row to further close the gap on the "big seven" hockey-playing nations. They haven't been favorites in games at this tournament often, but the Swiss did survive in that role Wednesday.

"Definitely, I agree with that," Swiss coach Scott Simpson said when asked if his team still is learning to play as a favorite. "I think we handled things better than we have in the past. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but after winning the silver medal [at the Worlds] it's our job as a team to keep our feet on the ground. Just because we're ranked seventh or eighth in the world and we've won one medal, it doesn't mean that we will be competing every time for a medal."

Hiller, who stopped all 21 shots he faced on his 32nd birthday, pointed to the final result as what matters.

"In the end all that counts is the win," he said. "It was probably not our best game, but at the same time this year is one of the first tournaments where we had more guys coming in from overseas so it was harder to get the lineup [set] and things like the power play where you need to know what the other guys do. It gets tougher if you don't score and then you try different stuff that makes it even worse."

Latvia had no wins, eight losses and two ties against the top eight teams (Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States) in its Olympic history before Wednesday. Toss in the World Championship and Latvia has seven wins, eight ties and 57 losses against those nations. Three seventh-place finishes at the World Championship (1997, 2004 and 2009) represent the height of Latvia's success at this level. Masalskis, 33, has been the No. 1 goaltender for Latvia for years, appearing in 41 World Championship games and five at the Olympics. He currently plays for HK Popard in the top professional league in Slovakia. Previous to that he spent parts of five seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League. Masalskis made a handful of highlight-worthy saves to stymie the Swiss. He had two side-to-side stops on what looked like sure goals during Switzerland power plays in the first period and then stoned New Jersey Devils forward Damian Brunner for the second time in the game with a leg save on a 2-on-1.

"I thought we played a pretty decent game but just couldn't find a way to put the puck in the back of the net," Hiller said. "The longer the game goes like that the tougher it gets. You start trying new things that don't always work and try to get too fancy. We'll take the three points and go from here."