Friday, May 28 | 9 a.m. ET | Riga, Latvia | Preliminary Round
GAME NOTES: Canada vs. Kazakhstan (May 28)
TV: TSN | Stream: TSN Direct
Fresh off its first win at the 2021 IIHF World Championship,
Canada’s National Men’s Team
looks to keep its push for a quarterfinal spot going when it takes on
surprising Kazakhstan in Group B action from Arena Riga.
LAST GAME
Canada’s offence finally awoke on Wednesday. After scoring just two goals
in their first three games, the Canadians netted two in the first 11
minutes against Norway. Things got a bit nervy when the Norwegians pulled
even in the second period, but
Canada saw out a 4-2 win
. Adam Henrique scored twice and added an assist and Connor Brown had a
goal and two helpers for the Canadians.
The Cardiac Kazakhs struck again in their Wednesday contest. After earning
come-from-behind shootout wins over Latvia and Finland, Kazakhstan made it
three wins from four games by scoring twice in the third period – including
a game-tying penalty shot goal from Roman Starchenko and the winner from
Pavel Akolzin with 4:18 left – to edge previously-unbeaten Germany 3-2.
LAST MEETING
You have to go all the way back to 2012 for the last – and only – meeting
between Canada and Kazakhstan. In its penultimate preliminary-round
contest, Canada got two goals from Dion Phaneuf, three assists each from
Duncan Keith and Ryan Getzlaf, and 24 saves from Devan Dubnyk in
an 8-0 win
.
WHAT TO WATCH
It has to be the big line, right? Apparently, the Canadian offence was in
Andrew Mangiapane’s hotel room all along, just waiting for his quarantine
to end. Inserted into the line-up for the first time, Mangiapane joined
Henrique and Brown to form Canada’s top trio, and all they did was account
for all four goals and put up a combined seven points in the win over
Norway.
And how about Owen Power? Expected to see limited ice time coming into the
tournament, the 18-year-old – the youngest to ever play for Canada at the
tournament – has found a home on the second pairing; he played 20:45 on
Wednesday, second-most among all Canadian skaters, and recorded a pair of
assists in the win.
A LOOK BACK
The game mentioned above – an 8-0 win in 2012 – is the only time Canada and
Kazakhstan have met at the IIHF World Championship. The Kazakhs were part
of the Soviet Union until 1991; the Canadians went 5-26-4 against the
Soviets.
All-time record: Canada leads 1-0
Canada goals: 8
Kazakhstan goals: 0
