photo credit: USA Hockey/Getty Images
SO-SO DEBUT FOR RED, WHITE, & BLUE
U.S. keeps Switzerland at bay for 3-1 win
It was the type of game we should have expected. In its Vancouver debut, after roughly 36 hours in town, the U.S. Olympic hockey alternated between solid and shaky play in its 3-1 defeat of Switzerland Tuesday afternoon.
The good was goals from Bobby Ryan, David Backes and Ryan Malone, and 14 saves from Ryan Miller. The Americans outshot the Swiss, 24-15, and outhit them for most of the afternoon. But mental lapses, especially from defensemen unfamiliar with each other, kept this one interesting until the end.
Ryan’s goal at 18:59 of the first period propelled the Americans into their best stretch of the day – the first 10 minutes of the second.
“You definitely don’t want to come from behind early,” Ryan said. “To get the lead, I think it settled the game down quite a bit for us.”
After a sprawling save by Miller, Backes picked up the puck and drove the entire left wing. He buried his shoulder and came in on Hiller on his backhand, then pulled the puck across the top of the Swiss crease and jammed it in.
Less than three minutes later, Malone forced the puck out of a scrum and through Hiller for a 3-0 bulge with 11:35 left in the second. Ryan Suter started the sequence with a blue line wrister, and Joe Pavelski created the pile-up in front by setting a perfect screen in Hiller’s lap.
But that’s when the Americans seemed to relax a bit against a relatively talented Swiss team. Hiller and Islander defenseman Mark Streit are the only full-time NHLers on the roster, but all the players are very familiar with each other. Switzerland plays the same style on all levels of international play. And the non-NHL participants prepared together in Europe before arriving in Vancouver.
Most of the American issues in the latter half of the game arose from d-men pinching at the wrong times, leading to odd-man rushes against Miller. Luckily for him, Switzerland’s struggled to overcome its lack of top-end offensive talent.
Julien Sprunger came free down the slot on a 2-on-1 shortly after Malone’s goal. Miller could not come over fast enough, so most of the net was wide open, but Sprunger sailed the puck over the crossbar and off the glass.
Other opportunities ended with shots right into Miller’s midsection. When necessary, though, he made the acrobatic save to stymie the Swiss comeback.
The lone puck to beat Miller came when he deflected a centering pass back through himself.
Burke and Wilson will also enjoy the fact that all three goals came from lines other than the top one of Patrick Kane, Zach Parise and Paul Stastny. The trio played well, but never beat Hiller.
The U.S. is back on the ice Thursday at 3pm ET against Norway.
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The Norwegians survived the first period Thursday night against Canada, but the host country finally overwhelmed the visitors in the second period. Jarome Iginla (power-play), Dany Heatley and Mike Richards solved Pal Grotnes in the middle stanza. Five more goals in the third period completed the 8-0 whitewash. Iginla added two more goals in the third for the hat trick.
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Russia began its tournament with an 8-2 beatdown of Latvia. Alex Ovechkin scored twice and Sergei Fedorov added a pair of assists.
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Wednesday's Schedule (all times are Eastern)
3:00pm Finland-Belarus
7:30pm Sweden-Germany
12:00am Czech Republic-Slovakia
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