Calgary Flames
Canada vs. Slovakia Open Thread
After the sort of game that a team would normally only dream of, Canada heads back to the ice to face an underdog Slovak squad this evening. The game against Russia, if nothing else, demonstrated that if the goaltending in a game is equal, Canada really has no peer in this tournament, since they’ve outplayed every opponent thus far by a considerable margin. They’ll go with the same set-up as Wednesday, although one might want to watch Ryan Getzlaf, given that he took the morning off for maintenance.
The Slovaks are the surprise package of the tournament after ousting the Swedes Wednesday. In a game where they face the sort of depth that Canada possesses, Zdeno Chara and Lubomir Visnovsky will be carrying a very heavy load, indeed. Up front, they do have some danger about them, with Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa the sort of threat that any team should note. Jaroslav Halak will start in net, and this will, beyond the game itself, serve as another part of his apparently never-ending audition for either a trade or a clear number one spot in Montreal. As far as the game goes, I have a hard time believing that the Slovaks have the depth to hang with the home side if Roberto Luongo is competent, but they likely weren’t a match on paper for the Swedes or Russians either, and here they are.
Game time is 7:30 MT on CTV, and the winner gets the Americans for the whole shooting match Sunday afternoon.
by Robert Cleave