Europe Exploits Poor American Effort for World Cup Opening Victory

A poor effort by the Americans resulted in Team Europe winning their first ever victory in an official tournament setting, starting off the 2016 World Cup of Hockey with a 3-0 victory on Saturday afternoon in Toronto.

It took just 4:19 of play for Europe to score their first ever goal in an official international event. After a bit of early American pressure, Frans Nielsen found a streaking Marian Gaborik in the slot, who wasted no time finding the back of the net on just their second shot. It was a big goal for Europe, who appeared to be outmatched heading into the game, especially after two big losses to North America in the pre-tournament. 

The opening period saw a lot of action by the Americans early on, but Europe would come out as the better team. Nielsen was strong in particular, taking two of Europe's six shots in the first period, both of which came close to beating Jonathan Quick in the American net. 

The defensive duo of John Carlson and Ryan Suter were off to a terrible first period, allowing two 2-on-1's in the first period, with one of them leading to the eventual first goal. They were a part of the second goal against as well, helping Europe enter in all alone with a 2-on-0 break.It wasn't completely their fault this time, as Patrick Kane made a big gaffe in the neutral zone to allow Leon Draisaitl to get the puck uncontested. The defensive duo was nowhere to be found, with Draisaitl and Nino Neiderreiter making a nifty passing play in front. Draisaitl had a wide open cage after a pass in front of the crease, with the Edmonton Oilers forward extending Europe's advantage to two goals after just 24:02 of play.

The Americans thought they had one in the back of the net at the 14:10 mark of the second. Suter originally got the puck on net, only to have James Van Riemsdyk bump it off his chest and Derek Stepan headbutt it past Jaroslav Halak in a strange looking play. The goal was reviewed and despite a clearly upset crowd full of Americans showing their displeasure, the goal was waved off due to an intentional redirection off the body.

If the Americans weren't happy about their goal not counting, they surely weren't happy with how Europe's third goal went down. After a sloppy American defensive effort, Jannik Hansen shot a weak one towards the net. It looked rather harmless, but French forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was right there to tip in the puck just in front of the crease to make it 3-0 Europe to end the second period. It proved to be the final goal that they needed, giving Europe the 3-0 victory and a surprise victory in the process.

Europe's head coach, Ralph Krueger, was pleased about the victory but acknowledged that there is still work to do.

"We haven't even accomplished anything yet. No emotion from our side."

Krueger attributed Europe's strong play to their two exhibition games against North America, who scored 11 goals in just two games against Europe.

"We couldn't have played a better opponent in the beginning. It was the fastest opponent that you could play out of these eight. What it did was tap in to the depth of experience we have. Internationally, nobody has more games than we do."

American captain Joe Pavelski was disappointed, but still believed there were positives to take out of the game.

"We got better as the game got on, but the structure wasn't where it needed to be," Pavelski said following the game. "We just got caught being a little too aggressive at times."

With just three games in the preliminary round, USA's chances at advancing became much tougher with the loss. They'll need wins against Canada on Tuesday and the Czech Republic on Thursday if they hope to be one of the two teams from their group to advance. Europe, meanwhile, will be in action against the Czech Republic on Monday at 3:00 PM before finishing off group play against Canada on Wednesday night.

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