GANGNEUNG, South Korea – A stiff test from the Czech Republic ended in a 3-2 shootout loss for Canada on Saturday afternoon at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Jan Kovar scored the winner for the Czechs to break a 2-2 tie through 65 minutes.
Pavel Francouz was beaten by Wojtek Wolski but stopped Maxim Lapierre, Derek Roy and Mason Raymond before Maxim Noreau hit the post for Canada. Ben Scrivens was beaten by Petr Koukal and Kovar.
Raymond and Bourque scored in regulation for Canada while Dominik Kubalik and Michal Jordan replied for the Czech Republic. Canada outshot the Czechs 33-20 during regulation and a bonkers 3-on-3 overtime in which each team could have won the game multiple times.
Scrivens made some strong stops to keep the game 2-2, throwing up his right shoulder to rob Jakub Nakladal in the second and kicking out his left leg on a Lukas Radil one-timer from the slot in the third.
The iron helped him, too, when Jiri Sekac hit the crossbar with 1:05 left.
The game was physical and chippy throughout, comically so at one point with Canada on a power play late in the second. Chris Lee got mixed up with Jordan who pushed the Canadian defenceman into the Czech bench, leading to an interference penalty.
On the ensuing 34-second, two-man advantage, Linden Vey ripped a shot off the crossbar but that was the closest Canada got on that power play.
The Canadians opened strong when Kubalik took a slashing penalty just 42 seconds into the game. On that power play, Vey made a clever pass in front to Raymond who in one motion shoveled the puck past Francouz at 1:13.
But the Czechs started throwing around the body, particularly down low in the Canadian zone and some scrambled play allowed Kubalik to redeem himself. After Scrivens deflected a centering attempt high up in the air, Chris Lee couldn’t corral the bouncing puck and Kubalik pounced on it to even the score.
The Czech pressure also led to some questionable decisions with the puck, as later in the first Marc-Andre Gragnani made a pass from his own corner to Raymond in front of the Canadian net, but Roman Cervenka intercepted it and nearly scored.
Canada retook the lead at 13:30 of the first when Bourque picked up the rebound of a Noreau point shot and swiped it past Francouz on the power play for his third at the Games.
The Czechs had the run of play for the rest of the period and were rewarded for it 25 seconds into the second. After some more sloppy play from the Canadians in their own end, a loose puck squirted out to Jordan, who snapped it home to make it 2-2.
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By Tim Wharnsby, CBC Sports
The names were different and the stakes were higher in 1998, but after the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team lost yet another shootout to the Czech Republic, it was only natural to have a Dominik Hasek flashback on Saturday in Pyeongchang.
Do you need a refresher as to what happened to Canada in its semifinal against the Czech Republic at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano?
Hasek was all-world. For 58-plus minutes he foiled one of the most talented rosters in Olympic history.
Jiri Slegr put the Czechs up 1-0 midway earlier in the third period. But Trevor Linden gave Canada some life when he managed to beat Hasek with 63 seconds remaining in regulation time. After overtime settled nothing, it was off to a shootout.
Marc Crawford and the Canadian coaching staff decided to leave Wayne Gretzky on the bench for the five-round shootout. Hasek was unbeatable. First Theo Fleury was stopped. Meanwhile, Robert Reichel fired a shot past Canadian goalie Patrick Roy after Fleury's leadoff attempt.
Then Raymond Bourque, Joe Nieuwendyk, Eric Lindros and finally Brendan Shanahan failed to score in their attempts. Hasek jumped for joy after he stopped Shanahan's backhand. Gretzky sat on the bench for a long time afterward, watching the Czechs celebrate as his only chance at Olympic gold was snuffed out.
Two days later, Hasek was on his game again. He blanked Russia 1-0 and the Czechs won gold. It was a wild and memorable party when Hasek and his teammates returned to the Old Town Square in Prague to celebrate.
Déjà vu
When the Canadians and the Czechs met up again in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in their exciting and dramatic 3-2 win by the latter, it was Pavel Francouz who played the role of Hasek, two days shy of the 20th anniversary of that semifinal upset.
Francouz is a 27-year-old goalie who was never drafted by a NHL team but who is tied for the best save percentage in the KHL this season with Lars Johansson at .945.
Francouz didn't have to be as dazzling as Hasek was 20 years ago. The former made 31 saves before the shootout. He even surrendered a goal in the shootout on Canada's second attempt from Wojtek Wolski.
But he stopped the other four shooters: Max Lapierre, Derek Roy, Rene Bourque and Maxim Noreau.
Actually, just like Lindros had beat Hasek with a backhand that glanced off the crossbar 20 years ago, Noreau beat his man. But his backhand slipped through Francouz's pads, only to hit the far post.
Ben Scrivens was just as good in Canada's goal. He was fortunate to have Jiri Sekac hit the crossbar with 65 seconds remaining in regulation time. Francouz was just as lucky to watch Canadian defenceman Mat Robinson lose the puck on a breakaway in overtime after he was slashed in the right elbow by an in-pursuit Petr Koukal.
"It rolled off my stick when I tried to pull the puck back to my forehand," Robinson said. "Like I said, we didn't get the bounces tonight. Hopefully, we'll get the bounces later in the tournament."
The Canadians never trailed in this game. They enjoyed 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the first period. But the pesky Czechs found a way to tie the game twice with their second goal from Michal Jordan arriving in the opening minute of the second period.
So what does the shootout loss mean for the Canadians? They likely will have to play an extra game in the qualification round on Tuesday instead of advancing straight to the quarter-finals.
The three group winners, plus the team with the next-best record automatically advance to the quarter-finals.
Canada, however, still has a shot at a bye to the quarter-finals. But it will need to defeat South Korea in regulation, and Switzerland to upset the Czechs in any fashion on Sunday.
The Canadians also could advance directly to the quarter-finals if they defeat South Korea to improve to 2-0-1 for seven points and that record holds up as the fourth best after the preliminary round.
