WORLDS DAY 14: Severson's buzzer beater leads Canada to semi finals
Hughes named USA's player of the game with two assists; Severson scores with 0.4 seconds left to get Canada to OT where they would ultimately defeat Switzerland
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CAN 3, SUI 2 (OT)
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CANADA 3, SWITZERLAND 2 (OT)
Canada: Damon Severson, Mackenzie Blackwood
Switzerland: Nico Hischier
Damon Severson picked an ideal time to score his first goal of the World Championship.
It was not the game winner, but an incredible game-tying goal.
With the clock ticking down, less than 30 seconds on the clock and Canada trailing Switzerland 2-1, Severson took two massive blasts from above the right circle. His first attempt blocked by a Swiss defender and his second made its way through heavy traffic and past Swiss netminder Leonard Genoni. The puck trickled over the line with less than a second left on the clock.
With 0.4 seconds to play, Severson's first goal of the tournament tied the game at two and sent the quarter final game into 3-on-3 overtime.
"Yeah, it has to be," said Severson when asked if that was one of the most memorable goals of his career. "Eventually if we make it back to the Stanley Cup playoffs and there are some overtime goals and big goals scored in the future, maybe those will jump ahead but right now, that one was in the top one, two or three. As of right now, that's in my Top three for sure because of the timing and the stage. It was pretty cool."
At 5:07 of the overtime period, Canada's Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights) completed the comeback with his second goal of the game for the 3-2 game winner, sending Switzerland packing.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Damon Severson scored the game-tying goal with less than a second remaining in the game! #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/WX54sIFnZq
Once again, Severson's 23:27 of ice time led all Canadian skaters.
Before Severson's goal, it looked as though his New Jersey Devils teammate was going to be credited with the game-winning goal.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Our @nicohischier nets a beauty for @SwissIceHockey! #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/bYIQ4076Hx
Nico Hischier gave Switzerland a 2-1 lead with just 2.8 seconds remaining in the second period when he fired home a rebound from a sharp angle to put the Swiss up by one. Instead, it will be Severson and Mackenzie Blackwood moving on as Hischier's tournament comes to a close.
Severson talked about eliminating his Devils teammate from the tournament.
"We had the handshake line, so I was able to tell him that he had a great game. We shared a 'how are you doing?' and hopefully, all is well," Severson began. "He said it was a great game and then he wished me good luck. You feel bad for him because he's your teammate all year and you want to see him do great things in the NHL but in this tournament, we weren't friends during the game. But as soon as that final goal went in we were back to being buddies. He played a really good hockey game and he's a really good friend and a heck of a hockey player."
The Swiss forward finished the tournament with nine points in eight games played, with four goals and five assists. Hischier lead all Swiss forwards with 19:34 of ice time against Canada.
RUSSIA 4, UNITED STATES 3
United States: Cory Schneider, John Hynes, Jack Hughes
The World Championship tournament has ended for New Jersey Devils Cory Schneider and John Hynes, as well as top NHL prospect Jack Hughes.
On Thursday in quarter final play, the USA were defeated 4-3 against the powerhouse Russian squad. Russia is undefeated at the tournament thus far with an 8-0-0 record.
The USA trailed 2-0 after the opening 20-minutes of play despite the strong effort from Schneider who faced 17 shots in the first period alone, while Russia's Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away just nine. Schneider faced a whopping 43 shots against, turning away 39 in the loss.
"We maybe let a few points slip away in the round robin. When you finish 5-2 you probably think you're going to finish better than fourth but our group was pretty strong this year and unfortunately, that's where we sat. We played a really good Russia team in the first round and that could have been a semi final or final matchup most years," Schneider said after the game. "Russia's been the best team so far. We had an opportunity to beat them but couldn't get it done. That's the way this tournament works"
As for his own play, Schneider was happy with his performance, finishing with a .920 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average in six games.
"It felt pretty good. I felt more comfortable as the tournament went on. We had some good challenges, especially the last two games against Canada and Russia. To get this kind of exposure and atmosphere and intensity was good for me, not having done it in awhile."
Brady Skjei (New York Rangers) was the first American to break through Vasilevskiy at 2:22 of the second period to cut Russia's lead to 2-1. The score would hold entering the third and while the US would score twice more, so would the Russian squad, eliminating Team USA by a score of 4-3.
Tweet from @NJDevils: Top prospect Jack Hughes sets up Noah Hanifin for Team USA. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/fVhgtFZCcc
Top NHL prospect Jack Hughes was back in the lineup for the American's after sitting out as a healthy scratch in the final preliminary game against the Canadians. But with the rash of injuries to the American squad, Hughes was back in for the elimination game. He had what was his best game of the tournament, with two assists in the third period and his personal tournament-high of 12:52 in ice time.
Hughes was named Player of the Game for USA and was a plus-2 in the matchup.
The elimination of Team USA at the Worlds continues a drought for a potential gold medal. The United States has not won the World Championship since 1933.
- With files from Julie Robenhymer
FINLAND 5, SWEDEN 4 (OT)
Finland: Kaapo KakkoSweden: Jesper Bratt
There will be no three-peat for Sweden at the IIHF World Championship.
In stunning fashion, Sweden were defeated by their Nordic rivals Finland in quarterfinal play on Thursday.
A stunned Swedish bench looked on as Finland scored the overtime goal just a minute and 37 seconds into the 10-minute extra time. The Swede's were the heavy favorites with an NHL stacked lineup, but were unable to defend their 2018 and 2017 gold medal victories.
Finland tied the game late, with under two minutes to play at the 18:31 mark before winning it in overtime. The game-tying goal was reviewed for an off-side player, but quickly deemed a good goal.
Sweden struggled to get the necessary shots on net against Finland, with the Finns outshooting the Swedes 32-18.
Devils forward Jesper Bratt played 9:30 of the quarterfinal game and ended his tournament with two assists in six games played with his national team.
Finland and top European prospect Kaapo Kakko will now face the undefeated Russians in semi-final play over the weekend.
Kakko was held off the scoresheet on Thursday.
Canadian's Damon Severson and Mackenzie Blackwood are the two remaining members of the New Jersey Devils at the World Championship, which comes to a close this weekend. Canada will face the Czech Republic in the other semi-final game on Saturday.
