GANGNEUNG, South Korea _ Backup goaltender Kevin Poulin made 15 saves in relief of injured starter Ben Scrivens on Wednesday night as Canada held on for a 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Finland at Gangneung Hockey Centre.
Canada, which relied on its wealth of NHL stars to win the last two men's Olympic hockey tournaments, will face Germany in the semifinals on Friday. Germany was a surprise winner over Sweden, advancing on a goal by Patrick Reimer one minute and 30 seconds into overtime. Germany is coached by Marco Sturm, whose NHL stops included a stint with the Kings.
Defenseman Maxim Noreau, who played six NHL games with the Minnesota Wild and has spent the last two seasons in the Swiss League, scored Canada's goal on Wednesday. Eric O'Dell, who was drafted by the Ducks in 2008 but never played for them, won a faceoff in Finland's zone and slid the puck back to Noreau, whose slap shot beat Finland goalie Mikko Koskinen 55 seconds into the third period.
Poulin had replaced Scrivens early in the second period after Scrivens was involved in a goalmouth collision with Finland forward Veli-Matti Savinainen. Scrivens _ a former Kings goaltender _ played for a few seconds after the contact but left the game at 4:17 of the middle period after having stopped six shots. Canada coach Willie Desjardins said more would be known about Scrivens' status Thursday morning.
"It was a great job tonight from Kevin, coming in like that and making some big saves," forward Maxim Lapierre said.
Poulin's teammates protected him well. "They had some chances, but we wanted to minimize the second chances," forward Derek Roy said. "We know if we give (Poulin) a good look at the shot, he can make the save, and guys were literally jumping in front of pucks. We were diving everywhere. They would have taken one in the teeth for sure."
Desjardins said he was surprised that Sweden had lost to Germany. "Sweden is a good team. Germany must be playing well," said Desjardins, who coached the Vancouver Canucks for three seasons before being fired in April 2017. "You don't get lucky in this tournament. You've got to play well. And Germany's got some confidence and they're going to be a tough team to play. ... They play the world championships with that group, so they have some experience against high-end competition."
