Yesterday was quarterfinal day at the World Championships and four members of the Montreal Canadiens’ organization were involved in three of the four quarterfinals. In the early game, Canada and Kaiden Guhle faced Slovakia and Juraj Slafkovsky. A bit later, the USA and Cole Caufield took on Czechia while Oliver Kapanen and Finland faced Sweden. Here are my takeaways from each player’s performance at this first stage of elimination games.
Juraj Slafkovsky Shines in Defeat
The big winger probably stopped a lot of Canadiens fans breathing when he blocked a slapshot from the blue line with the inside of his hand during a penalty kill. The fearlessness with which he threw himself in the line of fire is commendable, but hand injuries are never good news, just remember some of Brendan Gallagher’s shot-blocking heroics. Thankfully, he was back on the ice for his next shift. The fact he is used as a penalty killer just shows how important he is for his country and the way he played with such intensity and determination with a man down is what’s brilliant about him; he’ll do whatever is asked of him to help his team succeed.
In the 6-3 loss, Slafkovsky only had an assist, but he was instrumental in another one of his country’s goals. Early in the game, he baited Damon Severson to hit him in open ice, taking the Canadian blueliner out of the play before passing the puck forward and creating an odd-man rush on which the Slovaks scored.
In the third frame, while on a five-on-three power play, his one-timer was blocked by the defence and went up in the air. Slafkovsky then knocked the puck down with his hand and chased it himself to ensure his team wouldn’t lose possession and that the play wouldn’t be blown dead because of a hand pass. This particular play led to another goal and while he didn’t get an assist, without this heads-up play, the goal wouldn’t have happened.
Slafkovsky ends his tournament with eight points in as many games, all assists, second only to Libor Hudacek who had 10 points in his eight games for Slovakia.
Kaiden Guhle on His Way to the Semifinal
Meanwhile, Guhle had a quiet game, nothing flashy or out of the ordinary, but as they say, slow and steady wins the race. Playing on the third pairing with Severson, Guhle spent just under 16 minutes on the ice and ended the game with a minus-1 rating.
He was on the ice for the Slovaks’ odd-man rush goal and made the right decision defensively closing down Peter Cehlarik to the boards forcing him to make a difficult pass. Unfortunately for Guhle however, the Canadian player who was quickly coming back to lend a hand defensively deflected the puck in the goal. Jordan Binnington tried to make the save, but the deflection put him out of position. Nevertheless, the Canadians were never really threatened and booked their place in the semifinal in decisive fashion with a 6-3 win.
So far in this tournament, the Canadiens’ defenceman has five points in eight games, a goal, and four assists with a plus-4 rating. Guhle and Team Canada will play its semifinal on Saturday at 6:20 PM local time or 12:20 PM EDT against Switzerland.
Cole Caufield and the Americans Muzzled
The Canadiens’ sniper has been paired with two Ottawa Senators for this tournament; captain Brady Tkachuk and Shane Pinto. The trio has been Team USA’s second line for the whole tourney. Yesterday, Team USA took on Czechia, the home team, in its quarter-final and the crowd was heavily behind the locals. When the Czechs took the lead on the power play in the middle frame, the crowd got noisier, and the Americans seemed to be playing nervously.
Caufield got a golden opportunity to tie the game right from the slot on the power play in the second frame, but just like the rest of his team, he couldn’t solve Lukas Dostal. The Americans, who had the best attack in the preliminary round, were shut out 1-0 by Czechia, meaning the host nation will play Sweden on Saturday in the first semifinal.
Related: Canadiens Candidates to Play at the 2024 World Championship
Caufield finishes his tournament with eight points (four goals and four assists) in as many games and will start his offseason a month later than he would have if he had declined Team USA’s invitation.
Oliver Kapanen’s Finland Just Not Strong Enough
While Caufield was battling it out with Czechia, Canadiens’ prospect Oliver Kapanen and Finland were taking on Sweden. The Swedes dominated the game but had to wait until the 55th minute to open the scoring only to see Finland equalize with an extra attacker four minutes later. Kapanen was on the ice but didn’t get on the scoreboard for the goal that pushed the game to overtime.
The Swedes won the game 2-1 on a Joel Eriksson Ek goal. The best team won, but there’s no doubt Kapanen and his teammates would have liked to make the medal round. He leaves Czechia with six points in eight games and some valuable experience.
The center was picked 64th overall by the Canadiens in the 2021 Draft and has yet to sign an entry-level contract (ELC) with Montreal. He has signed a two-year deal with Timra IK in the Swedish Hockey League. However, if he were to sign an ELC with the Canadiens this summer, he would only need to play the 2024-25 season in Sweden. General manager Kent Hughes has until June 1, 2025, to sign him or the Canadiens will lose his rights.
After two weeks of competition, Guhle is the last Canadiens representative left standing. It remains to be seen if he will return with a gold medal around his neck like goaltender Samuel Montembeault and defenceman Justin Barron did last summer. Another former Canadien will be part of the Semifinals as Tomas Plekanec is an assistant coach with Czechia.
