Well, if the pool wasn't secured before the finals started, the Game One win for Team Canada has pretty well sealed the deal for Dale, as Carey Price made 32 saves for the win, while the combination of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand were good for a goal and an assist each, stacking Dale's lead to 17 points with either one or two games left to play.
It does seem somewhat unlikely that we'll make it to that third and decisive game in this best-of-three series, despite Canada being guilty of taking their foot off the pedal a little bit and Europe's ability to hang in there for the better part of the first game. The top line for Canada was fairly clutch again, however, and just when the commentating crew thought Canada was going to give away their 2-1 lead, the line led by Sidney Crosby found their way back to the net and extended their lead to two again.
If you were buying into the panic on the CBC broadcast last night, one would have been enthralled by how "poorly" the Canadians were playing last night, but Price stood tall and made most of the saves that he had to, beaten by a good European drive to the net and a fat rebound that dropped into Tomas Tatar's pathway, leaving him an open net for their only marker.
Game Two will go tomorrow night and it is expected to conclude the tournament, one which Team Europe does deserve a lot of credit for doing so well in. I think it is very safe to assume that this pool has been decided.
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