McDavid scores in overtime; Canada hangs on for 2-1 victory
Connor McDavid scored in overtime as Canada edged Latvia, 2-1, on Monday and clinched a quarterfinal berth at the world hockey championship.
McDavid batted his own rebound out of the air past Latvia goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis 46 seconds into overtime to give the Canada the much-needed two points.
Canada made some adjustments after a disappointing 5-1 loss to Finland on Saturday. Coach Bill Peters replaced Jaden Schwartz with Brayden Schenn on the top line with McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and also juggled his defensive pairings.
Anthony Beauvillier opened the scoring 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.
After being outplayed and outshot 10-4 in the first period, the hardworking Latvians applied good pressure in the second.
Latvia also drew two penalties and fired nine shots on goal in a scoreless middle frame.
The Canadian penalty killers gave up their first two goals of the tournament against Finland, but successfully defended against Latvia. Darcy Kuemper was sharp through two periods in his first start since Canada’s tournament-opening 5-4 shootout loss to the United States on May 4.
Kuemper was beaten on Latvia’s 14th shot of the game, getting a piece of defenceman Kristians Rubins’ point shot with his catching glove before the puck trickled between his pads at 1:50 of the third.
Thomas Chabot, who was scratched to make room for Marc-Edouard Vlasic in Canada’s loss to Finland, returned to the lineup on Monday to anchor the first- power-play unit. With the game tied in the third period, Canada failed to convert on two power play opportunities.
In the late stages of the third, Canada turned up the aggression, jamming the net in front of Gudlevskis, who was making just his second start of the tournament after giving up eight goals to Finland on May 6. Canada outshot Latvia 9-2 in the third and 31-15 through regulation, but extra time was needed to decide the winner.
Forward Kyle Turris was added to Canada’s roster after his Nashville Predators were eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, but did not play Monday. He could see action in Canada’s final round-robin game against Germany on Tuesday. Pierre-Luc Dubois did not dress against Latvia due to a lower-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
With Monday’s win, Canada is guaranteed a top-four finish in Group B and a quarter-final berth. Canada could finish anywhere from second to fourth in Group B, depending on the result against Germany and the results of Tuesday’s two other games: Finland vs. the United States and Denmark vs. Latvia.
In Tuesday’s late game in Herning, the hosts from Denmark will meet Latvia to determine the final quarterfinalist.
Norway beat South Korea, 3-0, in Monday’s other Group B game. Both teams had already been eliminated from playoff contention.
In Group A action in Copenhagen on Monday, Russia beat Slovakia, 4-0, and the Czech Republic beat Austria, 4-3.