World Junior Championship 2014: Pavel Buchnevich, Brady Skjei Impress Again
Another WJC update for Buchnevich and Skjei.
Pavel Buchnevich continued his bright start to the World Junior Championship in Malmö, posting another multi-point game as Russia defeated Switzerland 7-1 on Saturday.
Buchnevich tallied a secondary assist on defenseman Nikita Zadorov's first-period powerplay goal before the 2013 third-round pick's neat backdoor feed through traffic found linemate Mikhail Grigorenko for a late put-away.
Buchnevich was bright throughout and arguably Russia's best skater during the first two periods. He looked comfortable and worked well in tandem with Sabres prospect Grigorenko again.
He hasn't scored yet, but his quick hands are making things happen in the offensive zone and he was unlucky not to test Swiss goalie Sascha Rochow after a slick move between two defensemen fell short.
One big plus-point for Buchnevich so far is the chance to play first-unit powerplay time, something he very rarely does with Severstal in the KHL. Grigorenko and Zadorov are the spark-plugs for the Russian PP, but Buchnevich has played his part in its early success.
After a reasonably quiet game on Saturday, 2012 first-rounder Brady Skjei registered his first point of the tournament against Germany. Skjei picked up an assist on Hudson Fasching's opening score in the USA's 8-0 win at Malmö's smaller Isstadion venue, starting the transition with a crisp defensive-zone pass forward.
Skjei's skating has predictably been his strength so far and his defensive game, for the most part at least, has been solid. He's not a guy you'll notice much in a blowout win but he's keeping it simple out there and doing a job.
Note by Joe Fortunato: Officially Buchnevich only had one assists against Switzerland. But Alex watches the games and properly recorded two. Apparently there was a discussion about the official scorekeepers going back to rectify the mistake but they haven't. So officially he has three assists through his first two games, but in reality it's four. Just something to note.
