2017 IIHF Men’s World Championship Recap: Dvorak Registers First Point

Team Sweden

Oliver Ekman-Larsson missed two games in a row for team Sweden out with illness. The first was a 2-0 win against Latvia and the second was an 8-1 win against Italy.

He returned to the lineup on Sunday, however, to help team Sweden to a 4-2 win over team Denmark. He played on a line with Jonas Brodin (Minnesota Wild), Oscar Lindberg (New York Rangers), the newly added Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals), and William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs).

Ekman-Larsson did not snag a point in Sunday’s win.

He ended the game with 2 SOG and 15:51 TOI.

Team Sweden is currently third in Group A with 13 points behind Russia and the USA, who lead the group the group with 15, though Russia has a game in hand. If they keep up the success they should have no problem making the quarter-finals.

You can watch team Sweden take on Slovakia to decide their Group A fate at 3:15 AM MST on Tuesday.

Team USA

Team USA took on Latvia, who have been a huge surprise this summer and were looked at as a serious threat. However, after a slow start, the US came out on top 5-3. Clayton Keller and Chrisitan Dvorak both stayed on the same third line, while Connor Murphy moved to the top line defensive pair with partner Noah Hanifin (Carolina Hurricanes).

In this game, Keller notched his fifth point of the tournament with an assist on team USA’s third goal.

Dvorak had 1 SOG and 11:32 TOI.

Keller had 2 SOG and 14:08 TOI.

Murphy had 0 SOG and 19:24.

In the next game, team USA took on Slovakia. This game was nothing short of a blood bath with team USA coming out on top 6-1 over Slovakia.

Keller would score the first goal of the game and his 6th of the tournament. He is on his way to recording the most points by a rookie in his first year at Worlds.

Dvorak also finally got his first point of the tournament on a nice tap in goal.

Dvorak had 1 G, 2 SOG, and 9:56 TOI.

Keller had 1 G, 1 SOG, and 15:36 TOI.

Murphy had 2 SOG and 18:05 TOI.

Team USA currently leads Group A with 15 points, Russia right behind them in second with 14 points and a game in hand, and Sweden in third with 13 points. All possible winners for Group A.

You can watch team USA take on Russia for their last game of the round-robin prelims to see who wins Group A on Tuesday at 7:15 AM MST.

Details on the full schedule, times, and how to watch can be found in our IIHF Coyotes Primer here.