Several Penguins players earn awards at 2019 IIHF World Championships

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Team Canada, along with Penguins Jared McCann and Matt Murray, couldn’t hang on to an early 1-0 lead as they fell to Team Finland, 3-1, in the championship game at the IIHF World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia. As a result, McCann and Murray will take home a silver medal in their first-ever appearance at the World Championship.

The Canadians were backstopped by Murray, who finished the tournament with a 5-2-0 record, a 2.01 goals-against average, .926 save percentage, and one shutout. The Penguins netminder was nearly unbeatable in his final five games as he stopped 124 of 131 shots faced (.947 save percentage), including a brilliant 40-save performance in their 5-1 win in the semifinals against the Czech Republic, where he was named the player of the game on his 25th birthday.

McCann finished the tournament with five points (2G-3A) in 10 games. He picked up an assist in the gold medal game on Shea Theodore’s first-period goal, and his goals came against Team Denmark and Team USA in back-to-back preliminary round games.

Also medaling was Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin, who helped Team Russia to a 3-2 shootout win over Dominik Simon and Team Czech Republic in the bronze medal game. Malkin was held scoreless against Simon and the Czechs, but did finish the tournament with six points (1G-5A) and was plus-4 in 10 games. Russia was the only team in the tournament to finish with a perfect 7-0-0 record in the preliminary round.

Simon finished the World Championship tied for the eighth-most points in the tournament, registering 12 points (4G-8A) in 10 games, and concluded the preliminary round with goals in each of the final four games (4G-5A-9PTS).

Other Penguins participating in the IIHF World Championship were forwards Patric Hornqvist and Teddy Blueger, and defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Below is a breakdown of how each Pittsburgh player performed:

Player             Team                           GP       G          A          PTS      +/-       
D. Simon          Czech Republic            10        4          8          12        +10
P. Hornqvist     Sweden                        8          7          3          10        +11
E. Malkin         Russia                          10        1          5          6          +4
J. McCann       Canada                        10        2          3          5          +6
T. Blueger        Latvia                          7          1          3          4          -5
M. Pettersson  Sweden                        8          0          1          1          +4

Player             Team               GP       Record            GAA     SVP     SO       
M. Murray       Canada            7          5-2-0                2.01     .926     1

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