TSN.ca Staff
The round-robin portion of the World Junior Championship comes to a close on Monday as Canada and Finland battle it out to see who will finish atop Group A.
Canada currently leads Group A with three regulation wins and nine points, closely followed by Finland at eight points with two regulation wins and one overtime victory. The winner of Group A will face either Switzerland or Austria in the quarter-final.
Canadian captain Mason McTavish has been the offensive star of the tournament after three games, leading the event in both goals (six) and points (10).
Much of his success comes from an offensive outburst on Thursday against Slovakia where he registered four goals and two assists. The Anaheim Ducks prospect became the seventh Canadian to score four goals in a World Juniors game.
The other main Canadian standout has been 17-year-old phenom Connor Bedard. After making the team as a 16-year-old in December as the 13th forward, the summer reboot of this tournament sees him in a starring role on the top line for Team Canada.
The Regina Pats forward has not disappointed, registering two goals and three assists in three games in the tournament.
While Canada has had a spread out offence throughout their first three games, Finland’s offence has come from five different players who rank within the top 13 in scoring.
Leading the pack is New York Islanders prospect Aatu Raty, who is second in the tournament in scoring with eight points, followed by Nashville Predators prospect Joakim Kemell, who is tied with American Thomas Bordeleau for third in scoring with seven points.
Both players are also tied for second in the tournament in assists with five, behind Bordeleau who has six.
Finland’s offence is also being sustained by Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Roni Hirvonen, who has two goals and six points, while defenceman Kasper Puutio and Los Angeles Kings prospect Kasper Simontaival have contributed with five points each.
Canada appears to have the upper hand in net, with New York Rangers prospect Dylan Garand leading the tournament with a .956 save percentage and 1.00 goals-against average in two appearances. Ottawa Senators prospect Leevi Merilainen of Finland has the third best goals-against average of 1.92 and is ranked fifth in save percentage with .913 in two appearances.
One of the secrets to Finland’s success at the tournament so far has been special teams. Finland leads the tournament in power play proficiency, scoring eight goals on 13 power-play opportunities.
On the other side, Finland has been penalized the least in the tournament (seven) and have only given up two power-play goals.
Canada isn’t too far behind Finland on special teams. They have four power-play goals on eight opportunities while only allowing one against. Canada has been penalized 10 times in the tournament, which is the second least behind Finland.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiSGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRzbi5jYS9ieS10aGUtbnVtYmVycy1jYW5hZGEtZmlubGFuZC13b3JsZC1qdW5pb3JzLTEuMTgzNjg4MNIBUGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRzbi5jYS9ieS10aGUtbnVtYmVycy1jYW5hZGEtZmlubGFuZC13b3JsZC1qdW5pb3JzLTEuMTgzNjg4MD90c24tYW1w?oc=5
2022-08-15 15:25:22Z
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