T.J. Oshie and the Americans got the best of Russia at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. At the World Junior Championships, though, it was a different story.
Russia took a two-goal lead over Team USA in the tournament’s quarterfinal round and held on for a 3-2 win at Bell Centre in Montreal, sending the Americans home early for the second consecutive year.
Team USA played well at even strength but racked up 16 penalty minutes, a statistic that hurt the Americans less than three minutes into the first period when St. Louis Blues prospect Ivan Barbashev scored on a two-man advantage. The Americans killed three more penalties in the period but allowed a goal after the third penalty ended to forward Alexander Sharov.
The Russians took plenty of penalties themselves, and back-to-back infractions in the second period allowed Team USA to get on the board when Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Anthony DeAngelo scored on a 5-on-3 advantage.
Yet another Team USA penalty early in the third period ultimately doomed the Red, White & Blue when Carolina Hurricanes prospect Sergei Tolchinsky scored on the power play to put Russia up two goals.
Team USA defenseman Zach Werenski cut the deficit to one with 12:04 left in regulation, but the Russians held on to advance to the next round, where they will play the Sweden-Finland winner.
Boston University star and top NHL prospect Jack Eichel was held off the score sheet, finishing the tournament with four points (one goal, three assists) in five games.
“If you have to kill off that many penalties in a row, you spend a lot of energy,” Team USA head coach Mark Osiecki said after the game, via WorldJunior2015.com. “That caught up to us. We were very disciplined before, and for some reason, it didn’t work out today.”
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@CBCWorldNews
