After Tuesday’s historic collapse against Austria, Canada was clearly more concentrated on its defensive structure against Norway. The result was a 4-1 win in which Norway was completely shut out for the first two periods without any shots on goal. In the end, the shots were 36-6, with six shots being the second-lowest total for one team in a top-level World Championship game.
“Really good first two periods again from us,” said defenseman Damon Severson of the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Then we knew they were going to come again with a good push in the third kinda similar to the way Austria did the other night. We let Austria right back into the game and then ended up having to finish in overtime. Tonight was a little bit better. We were on the penalty kill there but were able to get a shorthanded goal to put ourselves up two there.”
“I thought it was a much better game,” said defenseman Owen Power of the Buffalo Sabres. “It was closer to a full three periods, so I think it was a good building block for us, and we’re going to continue to build off of it.”
Asked what the team was specifically trying to correct, Power said, “We gave up six goals last game, five in a period, so we weren’t happy about it, so that was definitely something that we were focusing on – trying to clean up some details – and I think we did a good job of that.”
“We were just trying to take care of the inside-out first, making sure we’re not giving up those inside shots,” said Severson. “We gave up a few grade-A looks against Austria and they were able to bury them, so we just wanted to try to limit those chances.”
The result was a 21-0 shots advantage for Canada through 40 minutes.
“I guess that’s good for us, but at the same time, we didn’t win by a ton either,” said Severson. “We held onto the puck but we didn’t score a ton of goals. It was a good job defensively but we’d like to put a few more in the net when we’re on offense for that long. It wasn’t for a lack of chances, but we’d just like to bury a few more of those and give ourselves a bit of a cushion, ideally.”
“Guys were definitely looking at the clock to see,” Power said about the zero on Norway’s shot total into the third period. “Obviously, you don’t want them to shoot any puck on net but it’s kinda hard to do.”
With Finland up next on Saturday, another defensive game can probably be expected, but it should be a much bigger challenge.
“They’re a really structured team, they’re not going to give you much, so we’ve just gotta keep it simple, wear them down, not give them anything and just take what they give us,” said Power.
“We’ve always had good battles against Finland, ever since I’ve been in this tournament,” said Severson, who is playing in his third World Championship. “It’s going to be a tough one, they play a patient game. We’re going to have our work cut out for us, for sure.”