Canada Finds Offense, Maintains Defensive Prowess

14 Feb 2014 | Tim Bourcier

Luongo gets a shutout in his first start for Team Canada; Carter with a hat trick.

Canada was dominant defensively again and they were able to find their offense against a struggling Austria side. In their 6-0 victory, they held Austria to only 23 shots on goal and Luongo was perfect between the pipes in his first start this Olympics. In Canada's first match against Norway, they were defensively dominant, but they had a hard time finding their offense. In this match, they scored twice in the first 10:12 of the game and really turned it on in the second period with four goals.

Jeff Carter took the game over with a hat trick in the second period, the first hat trick in the past six Olympic games. Patrick Marleau assisted on all three Carter goals. Getzlaf also finished with a goal and assist; his goal being Canada's final goal and and a shorthanded nail in the coffin on a Benn highsticking double minor.

While Canada was able to find themselves, Austria suffered a huge setback after competing well against Finland in their first game. Austria will now have to play in a quarterfinal qualifier match and will need a strong showing against Norway Saturday to earn a more favorable matchup in the knockout round.

On the top end of the group, Finland and Canada will square off with the winner earning first place in Group B and a direct ticket into the quarterfinals. The Finland-Canada game is the last of the group stage and the losing team will know immediately if they are the best second place team (going directly to the quarterfinals) or if they will have to play a qualifying match. While Canada's defense has been impressive, they have 18 penalty minutes over the past two games. This will need to be held under control in order to beat a Finnish side that has 14 goals in their first two games.