Saturday in Sochi
The USA won its first shootout game ever in the Olympics, defeating Russia 3-2 in the marquee event of the preliminary round on the strength of four scores in the skills competition by T.J. Oshie, who took all five shots (making three) after the event entered the sudden-death phase in Round 4. Oshie scored all four for the Yanks while Jonathan Quick allowed two to Ilya Kovalchuk (1-for-3 in extras) and one to Pavel Datsyuk (in two tries in extras). Evgeni Malkin was 0-for-1 while Alex Ovechkin did not take a shot. Joe Pavelski and Cam Fowler scored in regulation for the Yanks while Datsyuk got both for Russia.
Sweden completed its preliminary round sweep with its 5-3 victory over Latvia to clinch no lower than the second seed in the layoff/medal round. Henrik Lundqvist won his third straight in Sochi to improve his career record in the Olympics to 10-2. Carl Hagelin played 3:46 in the first period but did not get on the ice the remainder of the match. The Swedes, whose first four goals were scored on the power play, won’t play again until Wednesday’s quarterfinals. Latvia, whose minus-five in finishing 0-3 is the best goal-differential of the four winless teams, with the three others playing on Sunday (Norway, -7; Slovakia, -8; Austria -10), did not pull its goaltender after getting a power play with 32 seconds remaining while down by two goals.
Jacques Lemaire’s first coaching job was in Switzerland in 1979. Now it all makes sense. For the Swiss played their third consecutive 1-0 game of the tournament and won its second by defeating the Czech Republic behind Jonas Hiller. It was the second straight shutout for the Anaheim netminder, who had blanked Latvia in the opener before Reto Berra was beaten in the second game by Sweden. Simon Bodenmann scored in the first period against the Czechs. Jaromir Jagr played 20:31 while Michal Rozsival did not get a single shift, perhaps just getting a breather after averaging 19:26 the first two games.
Slovenia, competing as a country in its first Olympic Games, recorded its first hockey victory, defeating Slovakia 3-1 by scoring three times within an early third-period stretch of 4:59 to bust open what had been a scoreless game. LA’s Anze Kopitar, Slovenia’s only NHL player, scored the final goal. Goaltender Robert Kristan lost his shutout with 17.8 seconds remaining. The Slovaks, who in 2010 lost the bronze medal game to Finland, finished the preliminary round 0-3.
Up on Sunday
The USA meets Slovenia, with a victory needed to clinch first place in Group A and the corresponding bye to the quarterfinals. Finland and Canada, each 2-0, square off with first place in Group C going to the victor. If that game is decided in regulation, the winner would capture the top seed overall for the playoff and medal rounds.
Russia, which plays Slovakia, would get the wild card bye (if the USA wins) with a regulation victory coupled with a regulation defeat by either Canada or Finland. Norway and Austria meet, with the winner assured of avoiding being seeded last for Tuesday’s qualifying round.