Eurolanche

Landeskog earns first point in debut

The Olympic ice hockey tournament kicked off with its first two games. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog had his Olympics debut for Sweden as the „Three Crowns“ opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over Czech Republic at the Bolshoy Ice Dome. Team Sweden came out strong and already had a 4-0 lead before the halfway mark of the game.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson opened the score with 10 minutes left in the first period. Blues forward Patrick Berglund doubled the lead 3 minutes later. With less than a minute gone by in the second period, Sweden’s captain Henrik Zetterberg scored Team Sweden’s third goal of the night, after which goalie Jakub Kovář got the hook and was replaced by Alexander Salák. Landeskog had an assist on Zetterberg’s goal, his lone point of the night. Sens defenseman Karlsson scored his second goal of the night on the powerplay about 3 minutes later as the game seemed to be getting out of hand for the Czechs. Team Czech Republic wasn’t ready to give up so easily and proved that by scoring 2 goals in a 2-minute span to make the score 4-2. The game was starting to turn around as the Czechs got into more scoring opportunities and altough they kept playing into the very last minute it just wasn’t enough to overcome the lousy start they've had. Team Sweden’s Erik Karlsson had 2 goals and his defensive partner Oliver Ekman-Larsson had assists on both Karlsson’s markers. Marek Židlický and Jaromír Jágr scored Team Czech Republic’s only goals. Sweden hasn’t lost a game to the Czechs at the Olympics since 1992, their last defeat being against Czechoslovakia (3-1) on February 19, 1992.

Gabriel Landeskog, who will be serving as Team Sweden’s alternate captain, had a great olympic debut, showing tremendous work in front of the net and on the power play. He and his linemates Alex Steen and Sweden’s captain Henrik Zetterberg had a plus/minus of +2 each, with Henrik Zetterberg scoring Sweden’s second goal and Steen assisting on it along with Landeskog. Landeskog showed how mature he’s become by making great reads and passes, along with some key takeaways. Landeskog was willing to take the body too and almost drew a penalty on Marek Židlický, but was sent to the penalty box as well, resulting in some 4-on-4 hockey. Landeskog played over 15 minutes and had one shot on goal. All in all it was a great first showing for Landeskog.

Czech Republic - Sweden 2:4 (0:2, 2:2, 0:0)

Switzerland won against Latvia at Shayba Arena after scoring the only goal with 8 seconds left in regulation after a pass from behind the net bounced off a Latvian defender end found it’s way into the Latvian net, thus keeping the Latvians from getting at least a point.

Team Latvia’s captain, former Avalanche defender and 1996 Stanley Cup champion Sandis Ozolinsh played nearly 23 minutes, had 2 penalty minutes and showed some tremendous defensive work, mainly on the penalty kill.

His efforts, together with a great performence by netminder Edgars Masalskis, were the main reason Latvia came close to their first victory at the Olympics since the tournament in Salt Lake City in 2002.

Latvia - Switzerland 0:1 (0:0, 0:0, 0:1)

Upcoming games on Thursday

Finland – Austria

Russia (Varlamov?) – Slovenia

Slovakia – USA (Stastny)

Canada (Duchene?) – Norway

? – start not yet confirmed

Sources of photos: IIHF.com, Twitter

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