🇨🇿 Czechia 6-0 France 🇫🇷
World Championship Preliminary Round
Royal Arena, Copenhagen 🇩🇰
Sunday, 13 May 2018

There are hungry Bruins on the prowl in Copenhagen. David Pastrňák scored two first-period goals to spark the Czech Republic to a 6-0 romp over France on Sunday.

Roman Horák also tallied twice and Dmitrij Jaškin, who has formed a dynamic line with Pastrňák and his Bruins teammate David Krejčí, added a goal and an assist. Martin Nečas also scored, and Jakub Krejčík had two helpers. The Czechs currently sit third in Group A and continue to polish their game as the quarter-finals loom.

In a battle of backup goalies, the Czech Republic’s David Rittich had a far more comfortable time en route to his first career Worlds shutout than either France’s Ronan Quemener or Sebastian Ylönen, who replaced Quemener midway through this lopsided affair. The Czechs outshot France 55-10.

“Listen, it’s not often that you see a game as easy as that one,” said Czech captain Roman Červenka. “Even against France we’ve had hard games in the past. We just did really well in the first period and after that it was much easier. We could play how we wanted.”

Right now, Josef Jandač men look like a good bet to break a Czech medal drought that goes back to 2012’s Bronze. They’re undefeated in their last five games, and the magic truly kicked in when Pastrňák and Krejčí dominated in Thursday’s 4-3 overtime win over Russia. The Czechs are seeking their first Gold medal since Germany 2010.

This defeat all but extinguishes France’s faint hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. Still, the undermanned squad can still take pride in remaining in the top division, as they’ve done annually since 2008.

Both teams were missing significant players. Czech veteran Andrej Nestrašil (0-3-3) rested with an arm injury. French captain Stéphane Da Costa, who entered this game as his team’s leading scorer (1-4-5) sat out with a reported finger injury, while defenceman Florian Chakiachvili hasn’t played since sustaining a back injury versus Austria.

The Czechs close out their group stage against the Austrians on Monday, while France wraps up against neighbouring rival Switzerland on Tuesday.

At 3:41, Pastrňák opened the scoring off Krejčí’s faceoff win in the French zone, whizzing one high past Quemener to the stick side. Krejčí, who led the NHL playoffs in scoring with Boston in 2011 and 2013, has recorded at least one point in all three of his World Championship games so far.

Just over four minutes later, it was 2-0. Taking a pass from Jaškin, Pastrňák zoomed through the neutral zone and used defenceman Yohann Auvitu as a decoy, firing a quick shot that Quemener got a piece of – but not enough. It was the 21-year-old sniper’s fourth goal in three games.

Although he didn’t get an assist on the 3-0 goal at 14:11, Krejčí forced a turnover in the neutral zone, and Krejčík got it to Jaškin, who blazed in off the left side and sent a perfectly placed shot inside the far post for his fourth of these Worlds.

“Yesterday we had a day off and that was good for us,” said Nečas. “We had a good game where we could score some goals and play with the puck.”

At 1:37 of the second period, the Czech power play clicked for a 4-0 lead. Horák cunningly tipped Dominik Kubalík’s point shot through the kneeling netminder’s pads.

“Nothing worked out for France and, by contrast, everything we tried seemed to come off,” said Červenka.

Poor French discipline remained a problem as Jonathan Janil was sent off for a hit to the head of Filip Chytil, who was helped off the ice. However, the New York Rangers prospect would be back in action, as the game turned into a Czech shooting gallery. Chytil put one off the crossbar and Horák banged in the rebound for a 5-0 lead at 7:41.

That prompted French coach Dave Henderson – in his final Worlds before being replaced by Philippe Bozon next year – to insert Ylönen in Quemener’s place. It was the first Worlds action ever for the half-Finnish son of former French Olympic goalie Petri Ylönen.

In the third period, Nečas dipsy-doodled his way into the French zone and winged the puck past Ylönen to make it 6-0 at 10:32.

“It’s great,” said Nečas. “It’s a dream for every player. Every player wants to represent his country at the highest level. It’s a great feeling and I’m really enjoying it.”

The French have never beaten the Czechs at an IIHF World Championship. They lost all three encounters with Czechoslovakia, and this was their ninth straight defeat against the Czech Republic.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
01:05 – 🇫🇷 PEN – Janil, high sticking
03:41 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Pastrňák (Krejčí)
07:58 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Pastrňák (Jaškin)
14:11 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Jaškin (Krejčí)
20:00 – 🇫🇷 PEN – Claireaux, cross checking

2nd Period
21:37 – 🇨🇿 PP GOAL – Horák (Kubalík, Šulák)
24:46 – 🇫🇷 Janil, checking to the head minor + 10 min. misconduct
27:41 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Horák (Chytil, Sklenička)
37:49 – 🇫🇷 PEN – Treille, tripping

3rd Period
45:58 – 🇫🇷 PEN – Claireaux, high sticking
48:29 – 🇫🇷 PEN – Manavian, hooking
48:29 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Řepík, holding
50:32 – 🇨🇿 GOAL – Nečas (Krejčík, Polášek)
58:40 – 🇨🇿 PEN – Kousal, slashing

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇿 Rittich (10-10)
L: 🇫🇷 Quemener (27-32), Ylönen (22-23)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇿 17+24+14 = 55
🇫🇷 6+3+1 = 10

ROSTERS
🇨🇿 Goaltenders: Pavel Francouz, David Rittich. Defence: Radko Gudas (A), Filip Hronek, Jakub Krejčík, Michal Moravčík, Adam Polášek, David Sklenička, Libor Šulák. Forwards: Filip Chytil, Roman Červenka (C), Radek Faksa, Roman Horák, Tomáš Hyka, Dmitrij Jaškin, Robert Kousal, David Krejčí, Dominik Kubalík, Martin Nečas, David Pastrňák, Tomáš Plekanec (A), Michal Řepík.
🇫🇷 Goaltenders: Ronan Quemener, Sebastian Ylönen. Defence: Yohann Auvitu, Hugo Gallet, Kévin Hecquefeuille (A), Jonathan Janil, Antonin Manavian (A), Damien Raux, Thomas Thiry. Forwards: Maurin Bouvet, Valentin Claireaux, Teddy Da Costa, Floran Douay, Damien Fleury (C), Anthony Guttig, Loïc Lampérier, Guillaume Leclerc, Jordann Perret, Anthony Rech, Nicolas Ritz, Alexandre Texier, Sacha Treille.

Article Credit: IIHF Worlds 2018
Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2018 – IIHF – HHOF – IOC