The Canadians narrowly escaped a furious comeback by a gutsy Slovak squad and held on for a 3-2 win in the semifinals. Trailing by two goals at just over the halfway mark of the third period, Slovakia scored two goals in 3:32 and staged a late rally that fell just short when Demitra missed an open net as Canada goalie Roberto Luongo (19 saves) was down on the ice. Canada gained control of the puck, the horn sounded and the host nation survived to see another day.
Canada controlled the first 50 minutes of this game but seemed to either look ahead to Sunday or lose steam.
In a tight, defensive first period, the Canadians utilized their physical presence and prowess down low in front of Slovak goalie Jaroslav Halak (25 saves) to score two goals on tip-ins in just under a two-minute span. Patrick Marleau tipped a Shea Weber blast from the point at 13:30 of the first, and then at 15:17, Brenden Morrow made a beautiful redirect of a Chris Pronger shot, and it was 2-0 heading to the second period. Ryan Getzlaf had the secondary helper on the Morrow tally, and Scott Niedermayer did the same on the Marleau goal.
Canada carried the momentum into the second period and took what seemed like a commanding 3-0 lead at the time on a Getzlaf power-play goal at 16:34 of the second. Corey Perry set up Getzlaf, and Pronger got his second helper of the game on the play.
But while Canada kept pouring it on to finish the middle frame and continued to apply pressure for much of the first half of the third period, Slovakia hung around and started to gain some traction in its skating game at the halfway mark of the final stanza. With Canadian fans already chanting "We want USA," the Slovaks had other ideas, and at 11:35, they broke the shutout on a Lubomir Visnovsky goal with former Bruin Jozef Stumpel getting the lone assist.
But Slovakia wasn’t satisfied with just a pride goal. And just over three minutes later, they caught Luongo napping, and Michal Handzus pulled his team to within one goal, silencing the crowd. Richard Zednik and Bruins forward Miroslav Satan got the helpers.
The rally, however, fell short, despite a last-minute flurry of chances highlighted by the Demitra miss on an empty net.
Now Patrice Bergeron (who once again saw limited ice time) and Canada will renew the rivalry with Tim Thomas and USA for the second time in this tournament. Gold will be on the line Sunday at 3:15 p.m. ET (NBC). The Americans beat the Canadians 5-3 last Sunday in the final game of the preliminary round, but this game is winner take all and could also serve as revenge for the 2002 gold-medal game that Canada won 5-2 in Salt Lake City.
Now the Americans have a chance to do the same on Canadian soil. If the U.S. plays the way it did against Finland and has throughout this tournament — the U.S. is still the only undefeated team — they just may get that golden revenge.
Canada's near-disaster against Slovakia will either serve as a wake-up call or rattle their confidence a bit. The Canadians clearly stopped skating for the final 10 minutes and got caught looking ahead to Sunday, as did the CNBC announcers and fans at the game. Such mental lapses against the Americans will leave the Canadians wrapping silver medals around their necks.
Canada’s convincing win over Russia shows that this team is skilled and determined enough to win gold, but the Canadians also have proven at times that they may think the determination part isn’t needed.
Stars of the Game
1. Brenden Morrow
2. Chris Pronger
3. Jaroslav Halak
