Spengler Cup Roundup: Davos, Orebro earn first wins
Canada has lost both of its group stage games for the first time ever, while Orebro bounced back for a big win on the second day in Davos:
Strong start leads Davos to win over Canada
For the first time in tournament history, Canada has lost both of its group-stage games after falling 2-1 to Davos on Tuesday.
Davos will play Sparta Prague on Wednesday to earn a by to this weekend’s semifinal game. Canada will finish third in the group and will play the second seed in the crossover quarterfinal game on Thursday.
The start was as perfect as you can ask for by the hosts. Just 31 seconds into the game, Enzo Corvi found Andrew Rowe through traffic, and the newest Davos forward was able to slap it past goaltender Connor Hughes for the 1-0 goal.
At 1:55, on the very next shot, Dennis Rasmussen took advantage of another defensive miscue and found Leon Bristedt for a similar goal to the first, giving Davos a 2-0 lead.
It was a tough start for Hughes, who got the surprise start for Canada with Michael DiPietro still waiting on his equipment. Hughes, a Canadian-born goaltender, has dual Canadian/Switzerland citizenship and played for Switzerland in Euro Hockey Tour action earlier this year.
Canada needed someone to step up offensively, and Brett Connolly was the man for the job. At 37:16, Brett Connolly scored his third of the tournament with assists to Wyatt Kalynuk and Thomas Gregoire, giving Canada some life late in the second. They peppered Davos goaltender Sandro Aeschlimann with chances, but they didn’t have enough to break back into the scoring column.
Orebro takes advantage of special teams against HIFK
Swedish club Orebro bounced back from a disappointing opening day loss to Ambri-Piotta to beat Finnish team HIFK 5-2 on Tuesday.
The result spices up the Torriani Group with one day left in round-robin play. If HIFK wins in regulation, that’ll force a three-way tie. If Ambri-Piotta wins, they’ll get an automatic bye to the semifinal on Dec. 30.
The first period was wild, with four goals – including three on special teams – getting on the board. Elias Ekstrom started it off with a power-play goal, tipping in Kristian Nakyva’s point shot to make it 1-0 Orebro. Filip Berglund scored on an Ekstrom feed six minutes later, also on the power play, to make it 2-0.
HIFK kept running into penalty trouble, but they made the most of it at 13:25. That’s when Micke Max Asten scored a shorthanded goal, cutting the deficit to just one. Two minutes later, 17-year-old Kasper Halttunen to tie it up.
The second was all Orebro, though, which was highlighted by a shorthanded goal. First, Oliver Eklund scored from Elias Ekstrom at 32:00, with the pair swapping for a shorty with under two minutes to go in the second to make it 4-2. An empty-netter by Willian Wikman finished things off with the lone goal of the third, giving Orebro its first win of the tournament.