It wasn’t the sort of dominant performance expected, but Canada came from behind to edge Team Europe 2-1 on Thursday night to capture the 2016 World Cup of Hockey title. Both goals came in the final five minutes.
First, Patrice Bergeron scored his second goal of the tournament while on the power play. Brent Burns earned his first assist while Sidney Crosby picked up his fifth. That tied the game with 2 minutes and 53 seconds to go. The Canadians took the lead with 44 seconds left on special teams — shorthanded.
Brad Marchand potted his fourth goal of the tourney while Jonathan Toews and Alex Pietrangelo each earned their first assists. From there the Canadians held on to sweep Team Europe in the best-of-three game series.
Zdeno Chara scored his first goal of the tournament at 6:26 of the first period to give Team Europe a lead that lasted for 50:41 before Bergeron tied the game.
Canada ended up outshooting Team Europe 34-33 thanks in part to six power plays, converting once. That was a lead brought on by score effects, though. Team Europe lead 23-16 in shots after two periods, as Canada looked a bit listless in the early going.
As Europe tried to sit on its 1-0 lead, the Canadians improved. They took 11 shots in the third period, the same number as in the second, but this time they held Team Europe to just five shots on goal.
So that ends the World Cup of Hockey. The favorite won handily and while Team Europe put up a good fight, nobody could hold down the Canadians who won every game in the tournament. Congratulations to all the Sharks on Team Canada! Party hard.
Not too hard, though.
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