Montreal Canadiens: Josh Anderson Named Player of the Game at World Championships

Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson is in Helsinki, Finland representing his country at the Men’s World Hockey Championships. He scored in his team’s first game against Germany on Friday, and continued his successful start this morning.

Canada was taking on Italy in their second contest of the round robin, but they found themselves trailing 1-0 late in the first period. Canada does not have a stacked lineup at this year’s event, but they were obviously heavy favourites against Italy who are not really a hockey powerhouse.

So, it was surprising to see Canada trailing, even though it was the first period. But, Josh Anderson was able to factor in on a couple of goals to put Canada ahead.

Once they got the lead, they kind of entered cruise control and quickly pulled away from the overmatched Italian squad. By the end of the game it was a lopsided 6-1 victory for Canada, but it didn’t look easy early on until Anderson got the team rolling.

He started it off by using his blazing speed to win a race for a loose puck. He knocked it back to Travis Sanheim at the blue line who fired it across the zone to Damon Severson. The Devils defender returned the puck to Sanheim who fired a slap shot home, giving Severson and Anderson assists.

Anderson gave Canada a 2-1 lead on a beautiful tip early in the second period. Dysin Mayo fired a shot from the point that appeared to be missing the net by a wide margin. But Anderson reached out and knocked the puck out of midair and into the back of the Italian net. It was a perfect tip and it would stand as the game’s winning goal.

Canada would go on to win easily from there and extend their record to 2-0 to begin this year’s World Championship. Anderson was named the team’s Player of the Game following the win thanks to his two point night and beautiful goal.

Anderson scored in the tournament opener as well so he now has two goals and three points in two games for Canada. They aren’t in the most difficult group this year, with games upcoming against Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Denmark and France before the quarterfinals take place on May 26th.

Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!

Write for us!

Hopefully a strong performance at the World Championships will proper Anderson into a career year in 2022-23 for the Canadiens.