Conclusions cannot be drawn after one exhibition game, but the speed and offensive firepower displayed by Team North America in a 4-0 victory over Team Europe on Thursday is reason to believe that the 23-and-under squad has a fighting chance in the upcoming World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
After a scoreless and uneventful opening 20 minutes, “young guns” Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Johnny Gaudreau tallied in less than five minutes in the middle frame to open up a 3-0 lead and MacKinnon added to the lead with a successful penalty shot conversion in the third.
Stanley Cup winner Matt Murray had a relatively easy time of it at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, stopping 23 shots for the shutout.
The North American squad was the superior team by leaps and bounds mostly because of their speed advantage over the older Europeans, who are not expected to be a highly competitive club in the upcoming tournament.
"I thought that we definitely saw a lot of speed from Team North America right off the hop,"
said Team Europe head coach Ralph Krueger. "The adjustment to that speed took a while. I thought as we went on through the game, if you take away the goals, we were dealing with it better as time went on, and the third period was probably the best period. So we're going to build on that."
North America’s top line of Jonathan Drouin, Connor McDavid and Mark Scheifele was held scoreless on the night, but the “Top Pick” line of Auston Matthews, Nugent-Hopkins and MacKinnon accounted for three of the four goals.
The 18-year-old Matthews did not appear overwhelmed during the game, playing over 13 minutes, registering North America’s first quality scoring chance and deflecting a Leon Draisaitl outlet pass that led to Nugent-Hopkins goal.
The question is not whether the 23-and-under group has enough talent, it is whether they possess intangibles to overcome the more experienced Russians, Finns and Swedes when the games count beginning September 17.
Team Europe and North America will face each other once again on Sunday.
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