LA Kings: Petersen, USA Rout Slovakia, Advance to Worlds Semis
By Ryan Cowley
With some help from current and former LA Kings, Team USA defeated Slovakia in the quarter-final at the 2021 World Championship.
After a day off to rest from the preliminary round, the final eight teams at the 2021 World Championship were back to work on Thursday. For Team USA, they faced off against Slovakia. Thanks to some current and former LA Kings, they didn’t miss a beat as they won 6-1 to advance to Saturday’s semi-final.
At the 13:08 mark of the first period, one-time King Brian Boyle opened the scoring. The Americans scored twice more before the end of the first — courtesy of Colin Blackwell and Conor Garland, respectively — to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Just 2:12 into the second frame, Slovakia got on the board thanks to a wrist shot from Peter Cehlarik that beat Cal Petersen glove side. However, that was all the Slovaks could muster in this one as the Americans extend their winning streak in Riga to seven games.
Colin Blackwell scored his second of the game just a few minutes later to restore Team USA’s three-goal lead while Newport Beach, CA, native Sasha Chmelevski added one in the third to make it 5-1. Garland, though, completed the hat-trick late in regulation, capping off a decisive 6-1 victory for the Americans.
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In regards to the current Kings in this one, Trevor Moore and Christian Wolanin each collected an assist. Moore also had three shots on goal and finished the contest with a plus-one rating. Wolanin finished with a plus-two rating.
As for the Kings’ aforementioned netminder Cal Petersen, he wasn’t the busiest of players on the ice but was sharp when he needed to be. The 26-year-old made 27 saves en route to the victory, including a number of key saves that helped frustrate the Slovaks in this one.
As solid as he’s been in this tournament, though, the Kings’ netminder remains modest, giving a great deal of credit to his goaltending partner, Jake Oettinger.
“I think the way the team is right now and the way that we play, I think it doesn’t matter who’s in the net,” Petersen said following Thursday’s victory. “Just we’re both going to give each other a lot of support, and each of us is going to give the team an opportunity to win.”
Petersen continued, emphasizing the importance of Team USA’s defense, which has been nothing short of stellar in Riga thus far.
“Yeah, it’s been huge,” he added without hesitation. “I mean, I think we everybody got a taste with their at the end when we have a comfortable lead and go on the [penalty kill], and there’s guys still willing to sacrifice their bodies and block shots. That’s exactly what we need if we’re going to win hockey games here when we’re in the medal rounds and when these games matter. So, I think it’s just a testament to the character that we have in the room, the type of the guys that are representing the United States right now, and every guy is looking for that opportunity to help the team and it’s showing on the defensive side.”
Unfortunately, the news wasn’t all good for the Kings contingent as defenseman Matt Roy left the game early with an apparent injury, logging only 4:19 of ice time.
American Jack Capuano had no immediate update on Roy, or Matt Beniers, who also left the game with an injury.
“No, it’s right after the game,” Capuano noted. “I’m sure they’ll be– get checked on tonight or first thing in the morning and then we’ll know more after that.”
Team USA is off on Friday but will be back in action on Saturday for the semi-final. They will face Team Canada should they defeat Russia today (13:15 pm ET, 10:15 am PT). If Russia wins, however, Team USA will face Germany, who defeated Switzerland 3-2 in the shootout on Thursday.
The fourth quarterfinal matchup features Kings defenseman Olli Maatta as his native Finland takes on the Czech Republic game at 13:15 pm ET (10:15 am PT).