As the Colorado Avalanche made their run to the Western Conference semifinal, Tyson Jost seemed to get stronger as the playoffs went along. He finished the season scoring a goal in each of his last three games and was a big reason why the team was able to push the San Jose Sharks to game seven. Now it appears that he isn’t ready for his offseason to start just yet. Friday morning, Jost confirmed that he will be joining Team Canada in Slovakia for the 2019 IIHF World Hockey Championship. He will fill a role in the lineup that was created when John Tavares was forced to return home when he aggravated a back injury while preparing for the tournament. Jost expected to arrive in Kosice this weekend. After a tough loss to the Sharks in round two, it’s impressive Jost is making this trip. https://t.co/CtUsfNmNmn — Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) May 10, 2019 This will be the second consecutive World Championship for Jost who finished last year with four goals and two assists in nine games for Canada. He has a long-standing relationship with Hockey Canada that dates back to the 2014 U17 World Championship. After losing 3-1 to a Kaapo Kakko-led Finnish team in their first game of the tournament, Team Canada will be hoping Jost can continue his hot hand as they will need some scoring help as their forward group leaves a lot to be desired. Jonathan Marchessault - Dylan Strome - Mark Stone Adam Henrique - Sean Couturier - Sam Reinhart Jared McCann - Kyle Turris - Anthony Mantha Tyler Bertuzzi - Anthony Cirelli - Mathieu Joseph We should expect Jost to take Tyler Bertuzzi’s spot in the lineup.<doc-sep>Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) Kaapo Kakko will likely wind up with the New York Rangers as the No. 2 overall pick in next month’s NHL Draft in Vancouver. On Friday, he showed why New Jersey Devils general manager Ray Shero should have second thoughts about going with Jack Hughes with the top selection. During Finland’s 3-1 win over Canada in their opening game of the 2019 IIHF World Championship, the 18-year-old forward scored twice, including this highlight-reel goal in the first period. Kakko’s profile on Elite Prospects tells you what we saw on that goal. “A quick-thinking winger, Kakko never seems to be in a rush. He reads the game exceptionally well and finds himself a step ahead while the play is still developing.” As soon as the Thomas Chabot turnover lands on Arttu Ilomaki’s stick, Kakko takes off up ice as he sees how the play is developing. Toni Rajala’s touch pass then sends Kakko through Chabot while Brandon Montour takes a penalty in an attempt to stop him. Then the young Finnish forward shows off his edge work and smoothly beats Matt Murray for the opening goal. The top prospect was later out on the ice as Finland defended their 2-1 lead late in the third period. Kakko, who was named “Player of the Game,” created a turnover and then finished off Canada with an empty-netter to complete his memorable night. Kakko is eyeing history during the 2019 Worlds. If Finland wins the tournament, he would be the youngest player to ever win gold at the U18, U20 and senior World Championships. 2019 NHL DRAFT FIRST-ROUND ORDER 1. New Jersey Devils 2. New York Rangers 3. Chicago Blackhawks 4. Colorado Avalanche (from Ottawa Senators) 5. Los Angeles Kings 6. Detroit Red Wings 7. Buffalo Sabres 8. Edmonton Oilers 9. Anaheim Ducks 10. Vancouver Canucks 11. Philadelphia Flyers 12. Minnesota Wild 13. Florida Panthers 14. Arizona Coyotes 15. Montreal Canadiens 16. Colorado Avalanche 17. Vegas Golden Knights 18. Dallas Stars 19. Ottawa Senators (from Columbus Blue Jackets) 20. New York Rangers (from Winnipeg Jets) 21. Pittsburgh Penguins 22. Los Angeles Kings (from Toronto Maple Leafs) 23. New York Islanders 24. Nashville Predators 25. Washington Capitals 26. Calgary Flames 27. Tampa Bay Lightning 28. Conference final losing team with fewest points 29. Conference final losing team with most points 30. Stanley Cup Final losing team 31. Stanley Cup winner ———— Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.<doc-sep>John Tavares to miss 2019 IIHF World Championship Forward out with upper-body injury KOŠICE, Slovakia – Hockey Canada announced Thursday that Team Canada forward John Tavares (Oakville, Ont./Toronto, NHL) will miss the 2019 IIHF World Championship with an oblique injury. “We are disappointed that John will not be able to participate as a member of Team Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, but after contacting the Toronto Maple Leafs we agreed it was best for him to return home for further evaluation,” said Jason Botterill, a member of the management group for Canada’s National Men’s Team. “We know John was excited about the opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf once again, and we were excited to have John as a member of our team and to welcome his many years of NHL and international experience.” The 28-year-old was set to represent Canada for the fourth time at the IIHF World Championship, having also competed in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Tavares has won gold for Canada at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, as well as the 2008 and 2009 IIHF World Junior Championships, and won the Spengler Cup in 2012. He was also a member of Canada’s National Men’s Under-18 Team at the 2006 IIHF U18 World Championship and competed as a member of Team Ontario at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge in 2006. Canada kicks off the 2019 IIHF World Championship on Friday, May 10 when it faces off against Finland at 10:15 a.m. ET/7:15 a.m. PT. TSN and RDS, Hockey Canada’s official broadcast partners, will carry 64 and 29 games, respectively; please check local listings for details. For more information on Hockey Canada and Canada’s National Men’s Team, please visit HockeyCanada.ca or follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Twitter.com/HC_Men.<doc-sep>Kaapo Kakko is the real deal, and Canada found that out the hard way. The Canadians didn't know what to expect against Finland on opening day of the 2019 IIHF World Championship, but they were well aware of the promise of 18-year-old Kakko. The teenager showed that potential can be realized early when he scored the first and last goals of Finland's 3-1 victory over Canada on Friday, and Kakko demonstrated throughout that he will be a force to be reckoned with when he enters the NHL later this year. Canada suffered from a lack of familiarity, both within its own team and with the opposition, and it showed on Friday. Dressing 16 players who had never previously played in the world championship, Alain Vigneault's Canada squad struggled to adjust to the international game at times and allowed itself to be stretched on the bigger international ice surface. And with the Finland team filled with players who ply their trade in various European leagues, the Canadians were unable to scout their opponents as thoroughly as they normally would. It all led to a performance that was disjointed at times, although Canada did have its chances and imposed its will during long stretches. It wasn't enough, though, and the Finns held on for an unlikely victory to open the competition. Game over. 🇨🇦 is edged in a tight opening game by 🇫🇮. Game stats: https://t.co/igZd2KOZSJ#IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/YGqZHr0k3Q — Team Canada Men (@HC_Men) May 10, 2019 Sporting News is tracked Friday's 2019 IIHF World Championship Group A opener between Canada and Finland with live, real-time updates. See how it all played out below: Finland 3, Canada 1: Score, result from prelim game Third period 0:00 - That's it! Finland takes this one 3-1, with teen phenom Kaapo Kakko scoring twice. 0:34 - 🚨 GOAL 🚨 Finland finally gets out of their own zone, and the empty netter follows. Finland 3, Canada 1. Just after Anthony Mantha nearly found the equalizer for 🇨🇦, 18-year-old Kaapo Kakko scores an empty netter for his 2nd goal of the game to make it 3-1 Finland.#IIHFWorlds 🇫🇮 pic.twitter.com/ci2iPZeKBK — TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 10, 2019 0:49 - BIG SAVE! Mantha somehow gets all alone in front of the Finnish net, but Lankinen makes the stop. 1:47 - Murray heads to the bench. The Canadian net is empty. 2:52 - The power play ends with nothing doing for the Finns. All eyes turn to Matt Murray in the Canadian net now. 4:52 - Finland will go on the power play after Darnell Nurse is called for tripping. 5:12 - Yikes! Couturier nearly scores an own goal when he slides the puck back to Murray in a scramble in the Canadian goalmouth. 5:29 - Murray holds his ground as the Finns crash the net. Finland is finding a bit more space now as Canada looks to push for the equalizer. A couple of stops by Matt Murray in a scramble in front. He's been good today. Can't blame him on either goal against. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/0o8epogZ4R — Steven Ellis (@StevenEllisTHN) May 10, 2019 7:03 - Good movement by the Canadians in the Finland zone, but nothing to trouble the goalie too much. 10:00 - We're into the final ten minutes here, with Canada still trailing by a goal. 13:34 - Marchessault registers his fourth shot of the game. He leads the Canadians in that department. 17:24 - 🚨 GOAL 🚨 The Finns immediately take advantage, after a huge bounce confuses everyone. The puck lands in front of Canada's net, and it's knocked in on the second attempt. Finland 2, Canada 1. 🇫🇮 SCORES! Arttu Ilomaki cleans up the bouncing puck to give Finland a 2-1 lead early in the third period! #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/IHtTbRwVwz — TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 10, 2019 17:31 - Finland gets its first power play after Damon Severson gets called for crosschecking. 20:00 - The teams are back, and we're underway again. Second period 0:00 - Canada was the better team for most of that period, but Finland started and ended the frame looking dangerous. Should be a barn-burner third period. Finland 1, Canada 1. 1:02 - Now the Finns have set up camp in the Canadian end. Murray's suddenly busy after being left alone for most of the second period. 5:30 - Canada's getting lots of time in the offensive zone now. The Canadians seem a lot more comfortable over the past several minutes. 8:48 - Now it's a Lankinen save on Mantha. The Canadians are testing the Finland netminder more often. 11:08 - Turris gets a point-blank shot on Lankinen, but the Finnish goalie is equal to the challenge. 12:32 - The pace of the game has slowed considerably. This is nothing like the first period, with plenty of stoppages killing the flow of play. 16:58 - Play is stopped because... there's another puck on the ice. 19:11 - Finland hits the crossbar! The Finns are off to another good start to a period. 20:00 - And we're back for the middle period. First period 0:00 - The horn goes and ends an enteratining opening 20 minutes. Finland is not going to be a pushover. Finland 1, Canada 1. 0:51 - Murray makes a great save on a booming point shot. Good stuff by the Canadian goalie. 1:54 - Mantha forces a good save from Finnish goalie Kevin Lankinen after deflecting a point shot by Darnell Nurse. 6:40 - Kakko is giving the Canadias a hard time in their own end, and it's obvious why the youngster is so highly rated. 10:00 - After being stretched out by the big ice, Canada seems to have adjusted and are moving around with a bit more fluidity now. 11:57 - 🚨 GOAL 🚨 Canada gets the equalizer as Jonathan Marchessault rips a wrister from the right faceoff dot. Finland 1, Canada 1. 12:58 - Canada will go on the power play. 🙅‍♂️🇫🇮 High stick called and Canada gets the first power play #FINCAN #IIHFWorlds — IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 10, 2019<doc-sep>
Conventional wisdom would see the New Jersey Devils select American Jack Hughes No. 1 at the 2019 NHL Draft followed by the New York Rangers taking consensus No. 2 prospect Kaapo Kakko of Finland with the next pick. Not so fast. Kakko scored a highlight-reel goal against Team Canada on Friday in the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship opener that appeared to have the Devils scratching their collective chins. The 18-year-old winger corralled a beautiful touch pass from Toni Rajala then proceeded to beat Matt Murray with a nifty backhand deke along the ice. Moments after Kakko opened the scoring, the Rangers sent out the following tweet. — New York Rangers (@NYRangers) May 10, 2019 Suffice it to say they liked what they saw. Six minutes later, however, the Devils took a page out of the same playbook by adding a GIF of the goal and a second set of 👀 to their tweet. Perhaps it’s merely some light-hearted gamesmanship by the Devils, or maybe general manager Ray Shero and his staff simply haven’t made up their minds yet as to which player they’re going to take first overall. While Hughes remains the likely top pick, Kakko’s stock continues to rise and a strong showing at the worlds – or a poor one from Hughes, who is representing the United States at the tournament – could end up impacting how draft night unfolds. Back in March, Kakko leapfrogged Hughes for top spot on Sam Cosentino’s prospect rankings. Kakko fell back to No. 2 behind Hughes in the April and May rankings. At the end of the day the Rangers are in a win-win situation, guaranteed that either Kakko or Hughes will be available when it’s their turn. Goran Stubb, the NHL’s director of European scouting, recently compared Kakko to one of the NHL’s most dynamic young wingers. “I would say the closest might be another Finn, Mikko Rantanen with Colorado,” Stubb told the NHL Draft Class podcast. “They both come from Turku, they’re both raised by the same club, TPS, and TPS has quite a good reputation of raising young players.” Rantanen ranks 16th in NHL points over the past two regular seasons with 171 in 155 games. If Kakko turns out to be anywhere close to as productive as the Avalanche star then it’ll be a serious boon to either the Devils or Rangers…or whichever team ends up selecting Kakko. Kakko added an empty-net goal against Canada as Finland went on to win Friday’s contest 3-1. He was named his team’s player of the game.