Johnson's magic moment lifts Canada to crucial win over Czechia
Canada's toughest test of the 2022 World Juniors to-date came on Saturday evening when they took on Montreal Canadiens prospect Jan Mysak and Team Czechia.
Czechia came into Saturday's game with a win and a shootout loss under their belt. In their opening game, they narrowly defeated Slovakia in a back-and-forth affair by a score of 5-4, while in the second game against Finland, they lost 4-3 in a shootout. Going into the game against Canada, Mysak leads his team in goals (3) and points (4).
As for Canada, they sit atop Group A with two wins from two games ahead of Saturday. They defeated Latvia 5-2 on Wednesday, then followed that up by beating Slovakia 11-1. Captain Mason McTavish tied the Canadian single-game goal record with four in that rout of Slovakia and currently leads the tournament in points with eight.
Just over four minutes into the game, the Czechs got into some penalty trouble. Jaroslav Chmelar was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for checking from behind following a dirty hit on Canadian forward Brennan Othmann.
dirty hit here from jaroslav chmelar on brennan othmann. canada's off to a five-minute powerplay as chmelar gets called for a boarding and is given a game misconduct. pic.twitter.com/9JMdpQwptS— zach laing (@zjlaing) August 13, 2022
Czechia got on the board first on the penalty kill. Mason McTavish made a cross crease pass to Kent Johnson, but it skipped over the stick of the Columbus Blue Jackets forward and the Czechs went the other way. Martin Rysavy beat Dylan Garand over his shoulder and hit the middle bar.
Rysavy thought the puck went in, but the officials said no. The puck came out quick and Canada went back down into the Czechia zone and after play was over, the buzzer sounded indicating that it needed to be reviewed. After the review, the it was determined that the puck crossed the line and Czechia took a 1-0 lead. Rysavy's tally is the first shorthanded goal scored in the tournament thus far.
A big matchup in Group A and a big goal from @narodnitym! Czechia up 1-0 vs. Canada with a short-hander from Martin Rysavy. #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/pDOoyh6zD3— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) August 13, 2022
Canada tied the game up with just over three minutes remaining in the opening frame. Jack Thompson kept the puck in at the blue line and threw it on net and it went off of Mason McTavish's leg and past Czechia goaltender Tomas Suchanek.
Jack Thompson ties it up for Canada! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/ozEYrejIxz— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 13, 2022
With one minute left in the period, Canadian forward Kent Johnson scored what may stand as the goal of the tournament. After trying in previous games, the 19-year-old was finally able to pull off 'The Michigan' to give Canada a 2-1 lead heading to the locker room.
Kent Johnson puts Canada up late in the first with the Michigan! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/CaS79vMuc8— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 13, 2022
A little under five minutes into the first period, Canada headed to the powerplay after an undisciplined roughing penalty by the Czechs. Defenceman Ronan Seeley had the puck at the top of the circle, passed it towards the net and it was tipped in by Ottawa Senators prospect Ridly Greig to make it 3-1 Canada.
Ridly Greig scores 5 seconds into the power play! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/h8shJ2Lzfc— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 13, 2022
Mason McTavish continued his scoring ways in the second period. The Anaheim Ducks prospect was sprung in on a breakaway by Connor Bedard and made a slick move to fake out Suchanek, before sliding it between the Czechia netminder's pads to make it 4-1 Canada.
Mason McTavish finds the back for the net for the second time in the game! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/S3MZqIl6r7— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 13, 2022
Nearly eight minutes into the third period, Kent Johnson made a great pass to Barrie Colts forward Tyson Foerster, who blasted a shot past Suchanek to extend Canada's lead to 5-1.
Tyson Foerster puts Canada up 5-1! #WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/D4RrPHXtCu— TSN (@TSN_Sports) August 14, 2022
With the win, Canada improves to 3-0-0-0 on the tournament, while Czechia falls to 1-0-1-1. The Czechs will be back in action for their final game of the preliminary round on Sunday against Latvia, while Canada wraps up group play on Monday with a big tilt against Finland.
Players of the Game
Canada: Jack Thompson
Czechia: Tomas Suchanek
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||