'09WJ: Leading The Way

2009 IIHF World Junior Championships Ottawa, Canada
	IIHF Website
United States	Sweden	Russia
Rosters	Roster	Rosters
Statistics	Statistics	Statistics

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After the day off at the World Junior Championships, all three Panthers prospects were in action Sunday.

The results? Well they were the same as Friday as Matt Rust (USA), Jacob Markstrom (Sweden) and Evgeni Dadonov (Russia) all saw their teams come out victories. In fact, each played a key role in his squad's win.

Evgeni Dadonov

Russia 5,  Finland 2: Russia needed just one line to make the difference in their 5-2 victory over the Finns Sunday.

That line was the Russians' first line of Dmitri Klopov, Nikita Klyukin and Panthers prospect Evgeni Dadonov, which combined for nine points in the contest, easily outscoring Finland by themselves. The Russians would also get two goals from Columbus first-round pick Nikita Filatov, making it a non-contest between the two clubs.

Finland would actually jump on the scoreboard first as Jani Lajunen scored 5:10 into the contest. But Russia would take a 3-1 lead with three goals 3:33 apart from Filatov, Dadonov and Klopov. Dadonov registered the first assist on Klopov's eventual game winner.

The Finns would cut the Russian lead in half as Joonas Nattinen scored on the man advantage 3:55 into the second period, but Filatov netted his second of the night 6:01 later.

Russia added their fifth goal of the night as Dadonov set up Klopov on the power play for his second of the game with 1:46 left in the third.

Russia is now 2-0 in the tournament while Finland falls to 0-2.

Dadonov finished with a goal and two assists on two shots on net and was a +2.

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World Junior Championship Statistics - Evgeni Dadonov
Game	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	+/-	PIM
vs Latvia	0	1	1	2	+1	2
vs Finland	1	2	3	2	+2	0
Total	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	+/-	PIM
2	1	3	4	4	+3	2

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Jacob Markstrom

Sweden 3, Slovakia 1: Another game, another 3-1 victory for Panthers goaltending prospect Jacob Markstrom and Sweden.

After defeating Finland 3-1 on Friday, Sweden used two first-period goals and strong goaltending from Markstrom to earn the 3-1 victory over Slovakia Sunday.

Sweden struck early as Simon Hjalmarsson, a 2007 second-round pick of the Blues, scored just 1:02 into the contest. They then used the power play to get the eventual game winner as Flames 2007 first-round pick Mikael Backlund scored with 5:18 left in the first.

The Swedes built their lead to three goals when Senators 2008 first-round pick Erik Karlsson scored with 6:30 left in the second period.

With the victory all but in hand heading into the final period of play, the only task left for Sweden was to try and get Markstrom a shutout. A hooking call on Nichlas Torp ruined that chance as Martin Uhnak scored 5:33 in.

Markstrom (2-0) finished with 26 saves in the contest (9-5-12 in each period).

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World Junior Championship Statistics - Jacob Markstrom
Game	Saves	Goals Allowed	Save %	GAA	Record
vs Finland	20	1	.952	1.00	1-0-0
vs Slovakia	26	1	.963	1.00	1-0-0
Total	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	+/-
1	20	1	.958	1.00	2-0-0

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Matt Rust

USA 4,  Czech Republic 3: The final game of Sunday turned out to be the best as the United States and the Czech Republic treated the crowd at Scotiabank Place to a back-and-forth affair.

For 60 minutes the two teams battled each other and the Czechs almost came back from three goals down to tie the game, but ultimately fell 4-3 to the Americans.

The US used the power play to score their first of the game as Jordan Schroeder (2009 draft eligible) blasted the puck past Dominik Furch 13:00 into the contest.

The Czech Republic would knot the score at one when Ondrej Roman scored 5:14 into the second period, but the Americans went on a run from there.

Panthers prospect Matt Rust put the Americans up 2-1, deflecting the Jonathan Blum point shot past Furch 11:46 into the middle period while Flyers first-round pick James van Riemsdyk scored on the power play with 1:26 left in the frame.

"I really didn't see it until the last second," said Rust to NHL Network during the second intermission interview. "It was definitely mostly Blummer there. He had a great shot and I was lucky to get my stick on it."

The United States opened up a 4-1 lead thanks to Schroeder's second of the night and fourth of the tournament 3:43 into the third.

But the Czechs made it a game as Martin Paryzek scored with 12:58 remaining and Jan Kana brought the score to 4-3 with a power play tally with 3:17 left in the contest.

It was a frantic finish as both the Americans and Czechs had chances. Rust appeared to put the nail in the Czech's coffin as he scored an empty netter with about 30 seconds remaining, but the goal was waived off as his linemate was whistled offside.

For Rust, the University of Michigan sophomore finished with a goal on two shots and was a +1 while picking up two penalites, a hooking call at 6:09 of the first and a slashing call as the game ended.

"I definitely came into this (tournament) with a little bit of a drought there," said Rust. "I actually hadn't gotten a point in seven or eight games so it was definitely important to get a couple points these first couple of games and get the ball rolling again."

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World Junior Championship Statistics - Matt Rust
Game	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	+/-	PIM	Face-offs
vs Germany	1	0	1	3	+1	4	6 of 11
vs Czech Republic	1	0	1	2	+1	4	15 of 27
Total	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	+/-	PIM	Face-offs
2	2	0	2	5	+1	4	21 of 38

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GROUP A Rank Team GP W OTW OTL L PTS GDF GF GA 1 CAN 2 2 0 0 0 6 22 23 1 2 USA 2 2 0 0 0 6 7 12 5 3 GER 2 1 0 0 1 3 3 11 8 4 CZE 2 0 0 0 2 0 -8 4 12 5 KAZ 2 0 0 0 2 0 -24 0 24		GROUP B Rank Team GP W OTW OTL L PTS GDF GF GA 1 RUS 2 2 0 0 0 6 6 9 3 2 SWE 2 2 0 0 0 6 4 6 2 3 SVK 2 1 0 0 1 3 3 8 5 4 FIN 2 0 0 0 2 0 -5 3 8 5 LAT 2 0 0 0 2 0 -8 3 11