Bruins forwards David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha joined the Czechia national team in the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship tournament following Boston’s elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs to the Florida Panthers last week.
Zacha scored a power-play goal in the second period as Czechia eliminated the United States 1-0 to reach the semifinals on Thursday in Prague.
Playing in just their second game of the tournament, Pastrnak collected a cross-ice pass from David Spacek. Spacek then fed the puck to Roman Cervenka, who returned the pass to Spacek for the one-timer from the blue line. The puck deflected off Zacha who was skating to the front of the net, after ricocheting off Brock Nelson’s stick past USA goaltender Charlie Lindgren.
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Zacha had one shot on goal and won nine faceoffs in 16:41 minutes of ice time. Pastrnak was kept off the scoresheet but registered six shots on goal in 16:23 minutes in Czechia’s win.
The United States outshot Czechia 36-28 in the contest, but Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal stood on his head to keep the Americans off the scoreboard. Dostal has a .929 save percentage and a 1.61 goals-against average in his three wins of the tournament including two shutouts.
Czechia will face Sweden on Saturday in the semifinals, while Canada and Switzerland will face off in the other semifinal matchup. The winners will play for gold in the championship game on Sunday.
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Featured image via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
