Former Sabre Vesey advancing to Eastern Conference Final
The IIHF World Championships in Czechia has seen some excitement in its first week, with Austria losing 7-6 to Canada in overtime after staging a five-goal third-period comeback and rallying from two goals down to beat Finland 3-2 with a game-winner with one second remaining.
Team Canada was able to avoid disaster and is in first place in Group A with wins over Great Britain, Denmark, Austria, and Norway. In their 4-1 win over the Norwegians on Thursday, former Sabre Dylan Cozens continued his goal-scoring prowess, with a goal in his third straight game.
After struggling in his third full season with the Sabres, dropping from a career-high 31 goals to 18 last season, the 23-year-old is second to only Connor Bedard in scoring for Canada, playing mostly on the wing. Bowen Byram had an assist in the contest, and Owen Power played nearly 19 minutes in the game that moved Canada to 3-0-1.
After a slow start, winger J-J Peterka has shown the form that saw him named the tournament’s top forward last year. The Sabres forward followed up a two-goal performance against Latvia with a four-point (1G, 3 A) outing against Kazakhstan.
In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, at least one former Sabre has made it to the final four, as the New York Rangers came back from a 3-1 deficit to win 5-3 over the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Eastern Conference Final. Fourth-liner Jimmy Vesey played just 9:53 in the contest.
In the Canucks 3-2 victory over Edmonton, Evander Kane scored the Oilers opening goal early in the first, Vancouver’s Nikita Zadorov had two shots on goal in over 20 minutes, and Tyler Myers was +3 on the night.
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