photo: Andrea Cardin/IIHF
Germany struck for three goals in the first period and skated to a convincing 5-1 win over France in the first Qualifying Round game this afternoon at Santagiulia.
Germany will now play Slovakia tomorrow in one of the quarter-finals. The French, winless in four games, are done. They will finish either 11th or 12th, depending on the Switzerland-Italy result later today.
Captain Leon Draisaitl came up big at the biggest moment, scoring the opening goal in the first and adding two assists in the third. He also led all skaters with 24:07 of ice time and tied for most shots (four).
"The tournament is getting smaller, and it's getting harder each round," Draisaitl noted. "Teams are going to get better, and we know that. We've got a big task ahead of us tomorrow, so today was a good step, and, yeah, we'll get ready for tomorrow. [Slovakia] finished first in their group for a reason. And for us, it's a matter of finding our game early and getting to it and staying stingy."
"I think our first period was great, and then we kind of just managed the lead," Moritz Seider added. "Maybe a couple too many turnovers, but Grubauer was great in the net again and helped us out. They have some fast players over there, so I think we managed them pretty well. Our power play was great today, and we got two goals. Everybody sacrificed. It was a big win for us."
France's goal was scored by 40-year-old Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, almost certainly playing in his last game with the national team.
"The goal does not really matter," he explained. "At that moment, I just wanted to give a spark to the team. As a French guy, if you go with [the NHL] guys, you need that extra spark just to be to be with those guys. I never had the talent to be one of those top guys, but if I could be as reliable as possible, I would get a role in the NHL, and that is what I have done. It brought me a long career."
Draisaitl started the scoring on a power play. He took a nice backhand pass from Joshua Samanski at the side of the goal and fired one of his patented one-timers past Julian Junca at 3:40. It was his second goal of the tournament.
Seven minutes later, they made it 2-0 on a shot Junca would like to have another crack at. It looked like Frederik Tiffels was going to take the puck around the net, but he saw Junca go down and fired a shot off the side of the goalie’s helmet and in.
The Germans added another before the end of the period, this thanks to a gem of a pass from the side boards by Tim Stutzle. He saw JJ Peterka open in front, got him the puck, and watched as Peterka outwaited Junca and flipped a backhand into the open side of the goal at 18:13.
The French had a good start to the second period and after a couple of close calls got on the scoreboard when Bellemare tallied at 4:02 to make it 3-1. He fired a pass out front from well behind the goal line. The puck bounced off the leg of Moritz Muller and past Philipp Grubauer in goal.
The rest of the period pretty much belonged to the Germans, though. Peterka had another chance on the backhand from in tight, but Antoine Keller, in for Junca to start the period, made the glove save. He flashed the leather again to rob Tobias Rieder, but the Germans' best chance came midway through. Keller bobbled a long shot and Marc Michaelis was right there to swipe it home. Except, he hit the post, and Keller recovered to prevent a goal.
France had a couple of good chances to start the third, and then Draisaitl put Peterka in the clear on an odd-man rush. Peterka was stopped by Keller, but a little later the Germans went on another power play and connected.
Joshua Samanski got his first of the tournament when he took a pass to the crease from Draisaitl. After a couple of whacks, he put it in at 7:01 to give the Germans a nice 4-1 cushion.
Nico Sturm added an empty netter with 55.2 seconds remaining to finish the scoring.
Germany will now play Slovakia tomorrow in one of the quarter-finals. The French, winless in four games, are done. They will finish either 11th or 12th, depending on the Switzerland-Italy result later today.
Captain Leon Draisaitl came up big at the biggest moment, scoring the opening goal in the first and adding two assists in the third. He also led all skaters with 24:07 of ice time and tied for most shots (four).
"The tournament is getting smaller, and it's getting harder each round," Draisaitl noted. "Teams are going to get better, and we know that. We've got a big task ahead of us tomorrow, so today was a good step, and, yeah, we'll get ready for tomorrow. [Slovakia] finished first in their group for a reason. And for us, it's a matter of finding our game early and getting to it and staying stingy."
"I think our first period was great, and then we kind of just managed the lead," Moritz Seider added. "Maybe a couple too many turnovers, but Grubauer was great in the net again and helped us out. They have some fast players over there, so I think we managed them pretty well. Our power play was great today, and we got two goals. Everybody sacrificed. It was a big win for us."
France's goal was scored by 40-year-old Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, almost certainly playing in his last game with the national team.
"The goal does not really matter," he explained. "At that moment, I just wanted to give a spark to the team. As a French guy, if you go with [the NHL] guys, you need that extra spark just to be to be with those guys. I never had the talent to be one of those top guys, but if I could be as reliable as possible, I would get a role in the NHL, and that is what I have done. It brought me a long career."
Draisaitl started the scoring on a power play. He took a nice backhand pass from Joshua Samanski at the side of the goal and fired one of his patented one-timers past Julian Junca at 3:40. It was his second goal of the tournament.
Seven minutes later, they made it 2-0 on a shot Junca would like to have another crack at. It looked like Frederik Tiffels was going to take the puck around the net, but he saw Junca go down and fired a shot off the side of the goalie’s helmet and in.
The Germans added another before the end of the period, this thanks to a gem of a pass from the side boards by Tim Stutzle. He saw JJ Peterka open in front, got him the puck, and watched as Peterka outwaited Junca and flipped a backhand into the open side of the goal at 18:13.
The French had a good start to the second period and after a couple of close calls got on the scoreboard when Bellemare tallied at 4:02 to make it 3-1. He fired a pass out front from well behind the goal line. The puck bounced off the leg of Moritz Muller and past Philipp Grubauer in goal.
The rest of the period pretty much belonged to the Germans, though. Peterka had another chance on the backhand from in tight, but Antoine Keller, in for Junca to start the period, made the glove save. He flashed the leather again to rob Tobias Rieder, but the Germans' best chance came midway through. Keller bobbled a long shot and Marc Michaelis was right there to swipe it home. Except, he hit the post, and Keller recovered to prevent a goal.
France had a couple of good chances to start the third, and then Draisaitl put Peterka in the clear on an odd-man rush. Peterka was stopped by Keller, but a little later the Germans went on another power play and connected.
Joshua Samanski got his first of the tournament when he took a pass to the crease from Draisaitl. After a couple of whacks, he put it in at 7:01 to give the Germans a nice 4-1 cushion.
Nico Sturm added an empty netter with 55.2 seconds remaining to finish the scoring.