The first day of elimination is over and we’re down to eight teams left in the men’s ice hockey tournament. A couple of blowouts, a near-comeback, and a big-time upset were what we got on Tuesday, and in the process we saw three Flyers‘ Olympic journeys come to an end.
Yesterday’s Games
Slovenia 4, Austria 0
Brief Recap: A few days after picking up their first win in Olympic history, the Slovenes managed to get their second. It was never really that close of a game, as Slovenia led by three goals early in the second and managed to never really let up, even in the third period with a big lead. Another huge win for one country looking to make a name for itself in hockey, and the end of the Olympic road for another one.
Flyer Watch: Michael Raffl played 20:26 — the second-most of any Austrian player — and put three shots on goal, though he also committed a penalty early in the game that led to Slovenia’s first goal.
Russia 4, Norway 0
Brief Recap: Just missing out on a first-round bye, the home country picked up a pretty easy win against the tournament’s lowest-seeded team, which happened to be playing without its best player (Mats Zuccarello). Sergei Bobrovsky picked up the shutout in net for the Russians.
Flyer Watch: None
Czech Republic 5, Slovakia 3
Brief Recap: The Czechs roared out to a 4-0 lead, jumping all over a Slovak team that more or less looked out of sorts for their entire stay at the Olympics. Three goals from the Slovaks made it a game, but the Czechs held them off and moved on to today’s game against the U.S.
Flyer Watch: Jakub Voracek had an assist on the Czechs’ first goal and put four shots on net in 16:31. For the Slovaks, Andrej Meszaros played 20:40, but unfortunately committed an ill-timed slashing penalty with under two minutes left that game the Czech team a late power play that ended the game.
Latvia 3, Switzerland 1
Brief Recap: In maybe the biggest upset of the tournament, Latvia jumped ahead to a 2-0 lead and held the Swiss off the scoreboard with a one-goal lead through the third period. The Swiss got a pretty good push going throughout the game and kept the pressure on Latvia, but they gave up more than one goal for the first time in the tournament and weren’t able to score more than that to make up for it, picking up their first win of the tournament at just the right time. Former Flyer Oskars Bartulis scored the team’s first goal of the game.
Flyer Watch: Mark Streit played a team-high 24:56 for Switzerland and put four shots on goal.
Today’s Games
Slovenia (No. 8) vs. Sweden (No. 1)
Time: 3:00 a.m.
TV: NBC Sports Network
Winner Faces: Winner of Russia vs. Finland
Flyers? None
Russia (No. 5) vs. Finland (No. 4)
Time: 7:30 a.m.
TV: NBC Sports Network
Winner Faces: Winner of Slovenia vs. Sweden
Flyers? Kimmo Timonen (Finland)
Czech Republic (No. 7) vs. USA (No. 2)
Time: 12:00 p.m.
TV: USA Network
Winner Faces: Winner of Latvia vs. Canada
Flyers? Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic)
Latvia (No. 11) vs. Canada (No. 3)
Time: 12:00 p.m.
TV: MSNBC
Winner Faces: Winner of Czech Republic vs. USA
Flyers? None
