Worlds: McDavid winner secures Canada’s quarterfinal berth
After having trouble scoring at fiveon-five, Connor McDavid and the Canadians proved to be deadly at three-on-three.
McDavid scored 46 seconds into overtime, batting his own rebound out of the air past Latvia goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis, as Canada edged Latvia 2-1 Monday and clinched a quarterfinal berth at the world hockey championship.
The combination of McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Aaron Ekblad dominated play at 3-on-3 in the overtime session as Canada got two much-needed points.
“Those guys are so deadly with the puck, especially with Connor’s speed,” Canadian forward Ryan O’Reilly said. “The way he beats the guy up the wall and creates a scoring chance and ends the game, it’s definitely dangerous. That was huge, getting that goal.”
Anthony Beauvillier opened the scoring for Canada 2:51 into the first period, staying with the play to shovel in a loose puck after Gudlevskis failed to completely freeze a tip in front of the net by Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Beauvillier skated on a line with Pageau and Mat Barzal as coach Bill Peters shuffled his units in an effort to spark more offence after a 5-1 loss to Finland on Saturday.
“I thought it was a mixed bag,” Peters said about the changes. “We’re still trying to find the right combinations. Tyson Jost went in there and played well — I thought that line (with Bo Horvat and Jordan Eberle) was good. I thought the Barzal line probably had their best game of the tournament.
“I thought those two lines were dangerous for us on a consistent basis. Now we’ve got to get contributions from others throughout the lineup.”
Kyle Turris could see action in Canada’s final round-robin game against Germany on Tuesday.
Canada can finish anywhere from second to fourth in Group B, depending on its result against Germany and FinlandUnited States and DenmarkLatvia outcomes.