I think I'm more surprised about Washington being through to the Conference Final than I was about Vegas. I kind of gave up second-guessing the Golden Knights after they showed they were not going to wilt under the playoff spotlight in the first round against the Kings, but I thought the forces of nature that always pushed the Pens past the Caps would prevail again.
So—no three-peat. And Marc-Andre Fleury plays on with his expansion team after the Penguins' season comes to an end. Who saw that coming??
I tried to wrap my brain around what this Vegas juggernaut will mean for teams' player personnel decisions and leadership structures going forward. I'm tempted to believe that the old-school NHL will have a hard time changing but the further the Golden Knights can go, the greater the likelihood that everyone will be talking about the 'Vegas Model' this summer.
After all this winning, I can't wait to see what kind of contracts George McPhee is going to need to give his RFAs like Wild Bill Karlsson, Colin Miller and Shea Theodore. Is Karlsson the next Jonathan Toews—or Jonathan Cheechoo?
Who do you have for Game 7 of Winnipeg vs. Nashville? I'm stumped, mostly because there has been so much back-and-forth momentum in the series. I'm impressed that Winnipeg has been able to win two games at Bridgestone Arena, but it seems like a lot to ask them to win a third. For that reason, I think I'll give the edge to the Preds—although I'm not sure Pekka Rinne will be able to deliver another strong goaltending performance like he did on Monday.
Here in Denmark, I had the rare treat of watching ex-Canuck Ronalds Kenins playing on a line with ex-Canuck prospect Rodrigo Abols as Latvia shut out Korea 5-0 on Tuesday.
Kenins picked up his first goal of the tournament, while Abols had three assists.
The Latvian fans are known for their rabid support of their team—and I dig their burgundy-and-white team colour scheme. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in volume—although I give full props to the small but vocal Korean group on hand, too.
One night earlier, Canada had an easy time deflating the enthusiastic local fans—in their red and white—with a 7-1 win over Denmark.
Bo Horvat has earned praise from coach Bill Peters, who called him "probably a little bit underrated—a real good, solid 200-foot player" after Canada's 10-0 win over Korea on Sunday.
Peters loves Horvat's line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. It's fun to see more of Dubois and muse on what might have been if he'd fallen to the Canucks at five in the 2016 draft. "They're two really smart players that I don't enjoy playing against," Dubois said about his linemates after the Korea game on Sunday. "It's a lot more fun playing with them."
As for Horvat, he's in very good spirits.
"It's been great," he said of his time in Denmark so far. "I've been walking around the city of Silkeborg—that's where we've been staying. It's been beautiful weather so far, 23 degrees and sunny all the time so it can't get much better."
He's even putting a positive spin on his Canucks season:
"It was a frustrating year again," he admitted. "But to end it as one of the hotter teams in the NHL really gave our group a lot of confidence going into next year."
Wouldn't it be great if he's right? If that Sedin tour and all the good vibes at the end of the season create a culture shift that helps the next-gen Canucks start off on the right foot in 2018-19?
Team Canada doesn't play again until Thursday. They'll get back on the ice on Wednesday for a hard practice that will emphasize transitions, Peters said.
Today, the boys got a day off. Bo used his time to mix pleasure with a little Canucks team-building:
Dressing for Team Canada for the first time ever at any level, 34-year-old Curtis McElhinney has been solid when needed in net for the last two games, giving up just one goal in total against Korea and Denmark. He has been good to talk with; I will try to track down DiPietro at some point this week.
As for Denmark—they reallllly want to at least reach the quarterfinal when hosting the tournament for the first time in World Championship history, but now have one shootout win and two losses in their first three games.
Luckily, some heavy reinforcements are on the way to help out Frans Nielsen, Freddy Andersen and company:
To wrap up today, let's head down to Copenhagen. On Monday, Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, both on the power play, as Sweden continued its perfect performance with a 4-0 win over France at Royal Arena.
Lucas Aykroyd of the IIHF did a good interview with Pettersson earlier this week. Looks like the boss approves, too:
Anders Nilsson got his first start of the tournament against France, and stopped all 14 shots he faced for the shutout. He's back in early-season form—and was named Sweden's best player of the game.
As for me—having a wonderful time, but I've been working a lot. Hoping to finally get into town to check out the city centre as I try to find my way to the practice rink for the first time on Wednesday.
I did get out onto the sun-drenched plaza to mix with some Latvian and Finnish fans between games tonight. If you've heard the Danish term 'hygge,' I'm starting to get it. I often see it translated as 'cozy' but for me, I think it aligns closer with 'chill.' There's lots of space, lots of couches, and lots of flowers and candles on the tables, even at breakfast and in the worker's cafeteria in the arena. Nothing fancy, but nobody seems to get too stressed, either. I like it!
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»