2017-18 National Men's Team

SCRIVENS EARNS SHUTOUT, CANADA TAKES THIRD AT PUCHKOV

JASON LA ROSE

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Ben Scrivens (Spruce Grove, Alta./Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL) was perfect, turning aside every shot he faced to backstop Canada’s National Men’s Team to a 4-0 win over SKA Neva in the third-place game Thursday at the 2017 Tournament of Nikolai Puchkov.

Andrew Gordon (Porters Lake, N.S./Linköping HC, SHL) and Ryan Garbutt (Winnipeg, Man./HC Sochi, KHL) led the offence with a goal and an assist each for the Canadians, who scored three times on the power play.

It took less than five minutes for Canada to click with the man advantage; after Garbutt had a whack at a rebound in front, Mat Robinson (Calgary, Alta./CSKA Moskva, KHL) knocked in the second chance at the side of the net to open the scoring.

The teams traded chances through the first period and into the second, before Nick Petersen (Wakefield, Que./Eisbären Berlin, DEL) kept on a two-on-one and snapped a shot past Neva goaltender Konstantin Volkov for an unassisted effort at 11:46 of the middle frame.

Gordon pushed the lead to 3-0 midway through the third period, finishing a pinpoint pass from Derek Roy (Rockland, Ont./Linköping HC, SHL), before Garbutt – who wore the ‘C’ for the Canadians – beat Volkov over the glove with a quick release at 15:15 to finish the scoring.

The Road to PyeongChang is scheduled to continue in November; Canada will take on Switzerland in an exhibition game Nov. 8 in Zurich before participating in the Karjala Cup in Helsinki, Finland, from Nov. 9-12.