The second day of the 2020 World Junior Championship only featured two games, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any excitement. Team U.S.A. needed a little help from a Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect to close out an unexpectedly close game, while a late goal helped Team Slovakia to three points. Let’s see how it all unfolded.
U.S.A. survive scare from Germany for 6-3 win
Despite trailing 1-0 under three minutes in and 3-2 halfway through the game, Team U.S.A. managed to beat Germany by a final score of 6-3 yesterday. A pair of goals from John Peterka, who will be available at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and a three-point performance from Carolina Hurricanes’ prospect Dominik Bokk weren’t enough for Germany as they fall to the bottom of Group B with a record of 0-0-0-1 (wins-overtime wins-overtime losses-regulation losses. A win is three points, overtime win is two, overtime loss is one, and regulation loss is zero).
Bobby Brink made it two straight games with a point, as he notched his first goal of this World Junior Championship on one of his two shots on goal. With Daniel Wirt in the sin bin for hooking early in the third period, Brink was in the right place at the right time as a Zac Jones’ (New York Rangers) shot from the point led to a scramble in front of Germany’s net with the puck leaking out to the Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect to slam past goalie Tobias Ancicka (second year draft-eligible) to put Team U.S.A. up 5-3 with 12:42 to play.
#WorldJuniors: Key insurance goal for the U.S. as Bobby Brink (PHI 2nd/2019) buries a loose puck to make it 5-3 over Germany. Credit to Curtis Hall (BOS) for working hard on the forecheck to draw the penalty that led to the score. Nick Robertson (TOR) with the assist. pic.twitter.com/G4Cx9yiCnk
— Steve Kournianos (@TheDraftAnalyst) December 27, 2019
It was another quiet day for Cam York, but at least it was technically a better tilt for the defenseman. After he took a costly penalty in just 2:24 of ice time in Team U.S.A.’s loss to Canada, York stayed out of the penalty box and saw exactly 7:00 of action against Germany. Ideally we as Flyers’ fans want to see York get as much ice time as possible so these first two games weren’t fun, but there is still plenty of tournament left for the University of Michigan Wolverine to work his way into regular playing time.
After an absolutely bonkers assist in Team U.S.A.’s loss on Thursday, Trevor Zegras (Anaheim Ducks) led the team in points with four apples in yesterday’s victory. Not only were all of Zegras’ helpers primary assists, but his backhander to set up Jones to give U.S.A. the lead in the opening frame and his Evgeny Kuznetsov impression on Curtis Hall’s (Boston Bruins) goal in the second period highlighted his high-end vision. Despite the fact he has yet to record a goal in the tournament, Zegras is second in scoring with five assists second only to teammate Shane Pinto (Ottawa Senators). To follow up his three-point performance on Thursday, Pinto cashed in on a rebound created by Zegras to tie the game at three and assisted on two other goals to give him a tournament-high six points.
With the three-goal decision, U.S.A. now sits third in Group B with three points and a record of 1-0-0-1. Their next game is on Sunday against Yegor Zamula and Team Russia, while Germany’s next contest is later today against the Czech Republic.
Slovakia hands Kazakhstan a 3-1 loss
In their first game of the 2020 World Junior Championship Team Slovakia handed Kazakhstan a 3-1 loss. The three points and plus-2 goal differential puts Slovakia second in Group A while Kazakhstan is the only group with zero points despite playing two games.
Following a scoreless first period, 19-year-old draft-eligible forward Oliver Okuliar put Slovakia up a little less than five minutes into the middle stanza. Maxim Musorov responded on the power play for Team Kazakhstan just 4:54 after Okuliar’s tally to join Pinto as the only players with three goals so far at this World Junior Championship. Unfortunately for Musorov and company, current BCHLer Daniel Tkac roofed a cross-crease feed from second year draft-eligible forward Michal Mrazik to put Slovakia up 2-1 with 2:55 left in regulation. Robert Dzugan added on the empty-netter to help second year draft-eligible goalie Samuel Hlajav record the win with 22 stops on 23 shots against.
David Mudrak, an 18-year-old right-handed d-man who is eligible to be drafted in 2020, had the only multi-point performance with two assists and also provided a game-high eight shots on net accounting for a third of Slovakia’s shots on goal.
Team Slovakia is right back at it with a game against Finland today, while Team Kazakhstan has today off before facing Finland themselves on Sunday.
*All stats courtesy of the official IIHF website.
