DAVOS, Switzerland – Alex Grant (Antigonish, N.S./Jokerit Helsinki, KHL) had a goal and an assist, five players scored goals and 13 recorded points to help Canada’s National Men’s Team to a 5-1 win over HC Davos on Saturday at the 2019 Spengler Cup.
The victory sends Canada into the semifinals on Monday (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT). They will face the winner of the Sunday quarter-final between HC Davos and TPS Turku.
It is the sixth-consecutive time Canada has beaten Davos in what is always the marquee match-up of the tournament. Since 1984, the Canadians are 31-12 against the tournament hosts.
With the Davos resting a number of regulars, Canada jumped out to an early two-goal lead.
Andrew MacDonald (Judique, N.S./SC Bern, NLA) got the first at 2:18, hammering a shot from the point that nicked off a Davos skater and eluded goaltender Joren van Pottelberghe, and Dustin Jeffrey (Sarnia, Ont./Lausanne HC, NLA) found space upstairs from a sharp angle at 3:30 to make it 2-0.
After Davos pressed in the latter half of the first period, the Canadians dominated the second; they outshot the hosts 16-5 in the middle frame and stretched their lead to five with three goals in exactly 10 minutes.
Eric Fehr (Winkler, Man./Genève-Servette HC, NLA) was the recipient of a pretty pass from behind the net from Daniel Winnik (Toronto, Ont./Genève-Servette HC, NLA) for the 3-0 goal at 7:16, Kevin Clark (Winnipeg Man./SC Rapperswil-Jona, NLA) dangled his way to the net to score his fourth goal in two games at 10:38 and Grant whipped a shot past van Pottelberghe off a won face-off at 17:16 to put the Canadians in complete control.
Luca Hischier finally put a puck past Canadian netminder Matt Tomkins (Edmonton, Alta./Rockford, AHL) on a Davos power play early in the third period, but that would do it for scoring.
Canada finished with a 34-23 advantage in shots on goal.
Quote:
“Tonight was another stepping stone for our group, and a chance to continue to build chemistry. It is always a great opportunity to play against Davos in front of the hometown fans, and they certainly did not disappoint. Our team seems to be coming together well as a group, and we look forward to what should be a competitive semifinal on Monday.”
- Clark shares his thoughts on the HC Davos faithful and looks ahead to Monday’s semifinal
