Hrabal made 33 saves Salé scored twice in the shootout to help Czechia to its first win of the tournament.
RED DEER, Alta. – Jakub Stancl scored the tying goal for Finland with just
33 seconds left to send it into extras but two shootout goals from Eduard
Salé propelled Czechia to a 4-3 SO win over Finland in the preliminary
opener of the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
Czechia opened the scoring early with a shorthanded marker just 2:36 into
the game. Jan Šprynar forced a turnover in the offensive zone before
feeding a no-look pass to Jakub Štancl for the finish.
The Finns pressed for an equalizer but Czech goaltender, Michael Hrabal,
turned away all 10 shots faced in the first. The 6’6” Czech finished the
game with 33 saves.
In the second, Adam Zidlicky snuck one past the Finnish netminder, Petteri
Rimpinen, after a two-on-one break to extend the Czech lead to two. Finland
fought back on a late period power play with Kasper Halttunen wiring home a
one-timer from the top of the faceoff circle to make it 2-1after 40 minutes
of play.
Finland’s Kalle Kangas floated a shot through traffic, tying the game at
the beginning of the third to set up a wild finish. Joona Saarelainen
scored what appeared to be the game winner midway through the period but
Stancl scored his second of the game with just 0:33 left to send it into
extras.
No score through overtime, the stalemate continued through the shootout,
with Salé finally scoring the deciding goal in the third round.
Czechia will be back on the ice tomorrow in the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup
against Germany (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT)), while the Finns face USA (5 p.m.
ET/2 p.m. PT).
