One more time, Hall is shining for Canada
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA Move over Ryan Smyth — a new captain Canada is emerging at the world championship.
After leading last year’s tournament in goal scoring, Taylor Hall is once again finding success on the big ice with five goals in four games. Only Sweden’s Gustav Nyqvist has scored as much as the Edmonton Oilers forward, who led Canada to a gold medal at the 2015 world championship in the Czech Republic with seven goals in 10 games. “I think it’s just playing with great linemates,” said Hall, who has been the beneficiary of what he termed “All-World” passes from Connor McDavid.
“Every year you come over here, no matter what line you’re on as a forward there’s always an opportunity to play with some special players and this year’s the same. My first world championship wasn’t the best, but I think since then I’ve made some adjustments on how to play on this ice.
“It’s been good for not only me, but the team.”
Indeed, this might not be the most established team Canada has put together on the world stage. But what it lacks in experience, it makes up for in speed and firepower. That begins with Hall, who flew down the left side of the ice and wired a wrist shot past a stunned German goaltender Timo Pielmeier to give the Canadians a 2-0 lead in Thursday’s game. With the scored tied 2-2 in the third period, Hall scored the goal that burst open the dam in the 5-2 win.
“He’s a dynamic guy and he’s one of those guys who you don’t want to give quality chances to,” said Canada head coach Bill Peters.
It is not just Hall who is scoring, of course. Canada has scored 25 goals in four games so far and received offensive contributions from just about everybody.
Derick Brassard is tied for fourth in tournament scoring with seven points, Corey Perry has three goals and seven others have two goals each. In fact, only three forwards — Max Domi, Sam Reinhart and McDavid — have yet to score, but at the same time McDavid has five assists.
“You’ve got guys who can score,” said Peters. “They only need once chance ... we have a very high shooting percentage right now. That’s probably going to come down as the tournament goes on, I would suspect. But we want to make sure we’re generating quality and quantity.”
So far, Hall has done both. His 14 shots are five more than the next-highest shooter (Perry) and his willingness to challenge the defence and park himself in front of the crease has led to some of the easiest goals he has scored in his career.
“He’s a guy that puts the puck in the net. And we know that,” said Perry. “You see his speed, you see his creativity and he’s not afraid to go the net and that’s what you need in a tournament like this.”
Hall is hopeful his success at yet another world championship will count for something.
“I think winning a gold medal, being on a successful team, I think I saw what it did last year,” said Hall. “It makes people think about you differently than how your season went. I think a lot of the guys know that it’s a second chance to our season and I’m enjoying it.”