Team North America wins a classic, if not the chance to go on

If this was indeed the last act of hockey’s North American team this week, they couldn’t have gone out in more rousing fashion.

Nathan McKinnon’s overtime goal finally decided a 4-3 win over Sweden and ended the latest instalment of a show that has been the most irresistible thing going at this otherwise quite resistible World Cup of Hockey renewal. To find out whether there will be a curtain call, though, we’ll have to wait until Thursday afternoon at Toronto's Air Canada Centre when Russia, holding the tiebreaker thanks to a 4-3 win earlier, can send them all out of the last semifinal spot and on to their NHL training camps with a win over Finland, a team that’s managed to score but one goal in two losses for their tournament.

No matter how that works out, it shouldn’t diminish one way or another just how much glitter and glam the Under-24 side has brought to a stodgy continental bottom line so far. While the United States imploded in a cloud of grit and Canada has marched resolutely on as favourites, it’s the North Americans, a team that will never see the light of day again as presently constituted, who’ve stolen some hearts. Drawn almost 50-50 from the United States and Canada, they have spent the last few months going from NHL branding exercise and 20-to-1 longshot to everybody’s favourite second team -- except that along came Hank Lundqvist to play the padded arch-villain. Were it not for Lundqvist’s acrobatics, stopping 46 of 49 pucks shot on him in the Swedish goal -- after letting two get by him in the opening 95 seconds -- this final group game would never have gotten to extra time and the Tre Kronor never would have grabbed the point for an OT loss that ensured them a semifinal spot.

“Even though we didn’t win the game, I feel like we did,” said Erik Karlsson, appropriately summing up the utter insanity of the afternoon, its wild swings and tone set in an opening few minutes that amounted to something he said he’d never felt off the top of a hockey game before. Thirty seconds in and Auston Matthews was finishing from aside an open net. Johnny Gaudreau forced a penalty shot with a burst free of Karlsson that had the defenceman lunging and grabbing -- Lundqvist stopped the shot, but VIncent Trocheck beat him from the slot a few seconds later. Frankly, it was easy to lose track with so much was happening.

“They did it all,” said Karlsson. “Three breakaways, a penalty shot, a penalty call against us, a goal in the net, two goals in the net. They gave us kind of a slap in the face.

“(Lundqvist) bailed us out, after we gave him a rough start. As a goaltender, I can’t even imagine how it feels to be left alone like that and let in two quick goals, how he can rebound from that I have no idea.”

A couple of hours and several defibrillating moments later into OT, the puck ended up on McKinnon’s stick alone on Lundqvist, and finally a chance to make do even it was just a little too late in the grand scheme of things. The Colorado Rockies pro was dog-tired at the end of a long shift, but summoned up the the hockey equivalent of an ankle-breaking crossover dribble, finishing with a backhand into the roof of the Swedish goal that brought down the house.

The result wasn’t quite what they hoped for, perhaps, but it certainly was entertaining, whenever you caught your breath.

“It was like oh no and go,” said TNA coach Todd McLellan. “We have coaches that have been around a while, but that? We became fans. Like I said, I was standing on the bench and it was ‘no no no’ and then ‘go go go.’ It was just going back and forth, and the energy and passion in the building among the fans and players …”

And still not quite enough, at least for McLellan’s group. On Thursday in Toronto, they’re all Finnish for three hours or so. Expect a few continentals to be along for the ride.

“Honestly I thought when I scored we were in,” said McKinnon. “We were talking maybe we shouldn’t have celebrated so hard. But if we lost we were out, so we gave ourselves a chance. It’s fun. It’s going to be very stressful tomorrow but we’ve got some faith in the Finns to get a win.”

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