Torts could shorten bench in must-win
Drop the puck.
The Americans want to get this done.
“We have practised enough, we have talked enough, we have gone through all that process, let’s play the damn game,” Team USA head coach John Tortorella said on Monday following his team’s practice at Ricoh Coliseum.
“We are playing against a good team, a really good team. I can’t wait and I think our players can’t (wait) for this game to start.
“It’s going to be a blast, playing in there, against them, everybody wants us knocked out.”
Certainly Team Canada wants to be done with the U.S. once the final horn sounds late Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre. Sending their main rival to another loss with a game to play in the preliminary round would be a bonus, and not one that was expected before the 2016 World Cup of Hockey started.
A shutout loss by the U.S. at the hands of Team Europe in the first game of the event changed the course of the tournament. With Europe’s overtime win against the Czech Republic on Monday, the U.S. must beat Canada.
Tortorella hopes he gets it right with his lineup and usage of players. The thinking is that defenceman Dustin Byfuglien plays (taking the spot of Jack Johnson) and forward Kyle Palmieri as well, though it’s not as clear who might come out up front.
Regardless, the Americans don’t boast the kind of depth the Canadians do, and that’s why Mike Babcock probably wasn’t shaking in his office when he learned that Tortorella plans to use forward Justin Abdelkader with more regularity on Tuesday.
The thinking is Abdelkader, who played for Babcock in Detroit before the latter and the Red Wings parted ways, can be a forechecking catalyst who helps set the tone for his teammates. Abdelkader said he wouldn’t change his game, which must have been music to Tortorella’s ears.
“Abby has given us some forechecking, has held on to pucks more than some other guys and I think he just deserves to play more,” Tortorella said. “It’s something we need more of, having the puck more, and fighting for pucks.
“This game, I’m not wasting much time. If guys aren’t ready to play and they aren’t doing the (proper) things, it’s going to be a pretty short bench. That’s how important this game is.”
We don’t doubt that the U.S. will arrive at the ACC with a lot more bounce in their stride than they had versus Europe. Pre-tournament games between Canada and the United States, especially the first one in Columbus on Sept. 9, were nasty.
You would think the U.S. will require some luck as well. This group has not beaten the Canadians with anything on the line dating to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, when Sidney Crosby’s overtime winner sent the Americans home with the losers’ silver (The U.S. had beaten Canada in the round robin).
Tortorella didn’t concur with the idea that the game would be a bloodbath. The club that successfully toes the line between aggression and parading to the penalty box stands a greater chance of winning, but again, the U.S. would have to get it done with less skill than their red-andwhite counterparts.
“We’re coming,” Tortorella said. “We’re going to come and that’s no secret. It’s the way we have been built. We are going to play the game the right way. It’s not about yapping after the penalties, I think we need to have just a business look.”
With the next wave of Americans on the doorstep, a group that includes Jack Eichel, Johnny Gaudreau and Auston Matthews, there’s the strong possibility the game against Canada represents the final time a lot of these players will have a chance to accomplish something meaningful.
David Backes wasn’t willing to go down that path.
“I think you’re peeling back so many layers of the onion,” Backes said to his inquisitor. “If we start trying to carry the weight of generations of hockey players and defining moments or ends of tournaments, that starts to paralyze you.
“We’re trying to keep it light, make sure we’re still having fun and just go play one hell of a game.”