photo: Andre Ringuette/IIHF
Canada skated to a convincing 5-0 win over France tonight at Avicii Arena to jump into first place in Group A. They share a perfect 3-0 record with Sweden but have a superior goals differential. France, meanwhile remains in seventh place with an 0-0-1-2 record and one point, ahead of only Slovenia.
The French are back on the ice in less than 24 hours, playing Slovakia tomorrow afternoon. Canada has an extra day off before playing Austria on Thursday.
Jordan Binnington, who had a 6-0-2 record at last year's IIHF WM and is coming off victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off, was making his first start of the tournament. He stopped all 15 shots for his first career Team Canada shutout in IIHF play.
"We've been trying to come out hard every game, and sticking to our game. It's been great so far," said Adam Fantilli.
This marks the third time in as many games Canada has used a different goalie, but the skaters in front of them have played the same way--hard.
"We're comfortable with all of our goalies," Fantilli continued. "We're going to be playing hard in front of them, blocking shots, making sure there are minimal shots on net."
"I didn't like the way we played in the first period, but in the second and third we started to trust ourselves in the defensive zone and played with a little more grit," offered France's captain and former NHLer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. "We had some good rushes, and maybe if we had got one goal we could have made it a tighter game, but we're playing Team Canada. It's not easy."
The Canadians came out and played tic-tac-toe with the puck, moving it around as if it were on a string. Brandon Montour hit the post early, but soon after the Canadians opened the scoring after a French turnover in their own end. Tyson Foerster skated out of the corner with the disc and found Bo Horvat in front, and he snapped his third goal of the tournament past Julian Junca at 6:32.
Less than six minutes later, they doubled their lead on another pass-shot combination. This time it was Kent Johnson off the rush finding Wilf Cuylle in front. It came after France’s best sequence in the Canadian end, but Binnington made one nice save and the defence cleared out the others. Then, Cuylle upped the lead.
The best France chance in the second came early and, unfortunately, amounted to little. A Canadian turnover inside the France blue line allowed Guillaume Leclerc to skate the puck up ice, but just when it seemed like he’d have a clear break Travis Sanheim got back and forced Leclerc to take a weak backhand that drifted over the net.
The Canadians made it 3-0 late in the period on a power play. Sidney Crosby skated out of the corner and lifted a shot into an impossibly small corner of the net, over Junca’s shoulder and just beside the goalie's mask.
Canada added a pair of goals in the final 20 mminutes. They made it 4-0 on another power play. Horvat got his second of the night and tournament-leading fourth, converting a quick pass with an equally quick release. Montour made it 5-0 when his long shot bounced high in the air off Junca and rolled into the net at 11:05.
The French are back on the ice in less than 24 hours, playing Slovakia tomorrow afternoon. Canada has an extra day off before playing Austria on Thursday.
Jordan Binnington, who had a 6-0-2 record at last year's IIHF WM and is coming off victory in the 4 Nations Face-Off, was making his first start of the tournament. He stopped all 15 shots for his first career Team Canada shutout in IIHF play.
"We've been trying to come out hard every game, and sticking to our game. It's been great so far," said Adam Fantilli.
This marks the third time in as many games Canada has used a different goalie, but the skaters in front of them have played the same way--hard.
"We're comfortable with all of our goalies," Fantilli continued. "We're going to be playing hard in front of them, blocking shots, making sure there are minimal shots on net."
"I didn't like the way we played in the first period, but in the second and third we started to trust ourselves in the defensive zone and played with a little more grit," offered France's captain and former NHLer Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. "We had some good rushes, and maybe if we had got one goal we could have made it a tighter game, but we're playing Team Canada. It's not easy."
The Canadians came out and played tic-tac-toe with the puck, moving it around as if it were on a string. Brandon Montour hit the post early, but soon after the Canadians opened the scoring after a French turnover in their own end. Tyson Foerster skated out of the corner with the disc and found Bo Horvat in front, and he snapped his third goal of the tournament past Julian Junca at 6:32.
Less than six minutes later, they doubled their lead on another pass-shot combination. This time it was Kent Johnson off the rush finding Wilf Cuylle in front. It came after France’s best sequence in the Canadian end, but Binnington made one nice save and the defence cleared out the others. Then, Cuylle upped the lead.
The best France chance in the second came early and, unfortunately, amounted to little. A Canadian turnover inside the France blue line allowed Guillaume Leclerc to skate the puck up ice, but just when it seemed like he’d have a clear break Travis Sanheim got back and forced Leclerc to take a weak backhand that drifted over the net.
The Canadians made it 3-0 late in the period on a power play. Sidney Crosby skated out of the corner and lifted a shot into an impossibly small corner of the net, over Junca’s shoulder and just beside the goalie's mask.
Canada added a pair of goals in the final 20 mminutes. They made it 4-0 on another power play. Horvat got his second of the night and tournament-leading fourth, converting a quick pass with an equally quick release. Montour made it 5-0 when his long shot bounced high in the air off Junca and rolled into the net at 11:05.
Canada vs France - 2025 IIHF WM
OF