Nugent-hopkins has gold, assist as Canada beats Germany at worlds
Ryan Nugent-hopkins had a goal and an assist as Canada finished off its round-robin schedule with a workmanlike 3-0 win over Germany on Tuesday at the world hockey championship.
Less than 18 hours after Connor Mcdavid’s overtime winner against Latvia clinched a quarterfinal berth, Canada controlled Tuesday’s game from start to finish at Jyske Bank Boxen.
Just 20 seconds into the first period, Brayden Schenn put the Canadians on the board when he directed a pass in the slot from Nugent-hopkins past sliding German goaltender Niklas Treutle.
Nugent- Hopkins scored his fourth of the tournament at 8:14 of the second period with a shot that went between a screened Treutle’s pads.
Mcdavid, Canada’s leading scorer picked up his 12th and 13th points of the tournament with assists on Canada’s first two goals.
In the third, Tyson Jost converted on a pass into the slot from Joel Edmundson for his fourth of the tournament.
Starting in back-to-back games, Darcy Kuemper wasn’t busy but stayed calm when Germany was able to generate traffic near his crease in the second period. He stopped 12 shots for his first shutout of the tournament.
With a quarterfinal berth already locked down, Tuesday’s game served as a tune-up for the playoff round as coach Bill Peters to continue to experiment with line combinations and work on special teams.
For a fourth-straight game, the power play sputtered. Canada has now failed to score on its last 16 man-advantage opportunities.
Kyle Turris, eager to get into action even though his equip- ment didn’t arrive by game time, made his 2018 Canada debut in borrowed gear and was inserted onto the second power-play unit.
Pierre-luc Dubois returned to the lineup after missing Monday’s game with a lower-body injury, while Josh Bailey was scratched with a lower-body injury of his own. On defence, Ryan Pulock drew back into the lineup, while Thomas Chabot did not dress.
The Germans knocked Canada out of gold-medal contention in the semifinal of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in February, but only 10 players from that roster returned to suit up at the world championship.
Despite the addition of NHL players Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers) and Dennis Seidenberg (New York Islanders), the Germans were unable to build off their Olympic success in Denmark. Marco Sturm’s group will not advance to the quarterfinal after finishing sixth in Group B with just one regulation win and one overtime win in seven games.