Day 1 of the World Juniors is in the books, and the LA Kings are again well-represented. Here are several highlights and notes from the first day.
Samuel Helenius
2021 second-rounder Samuel Helenius got the party started in the opening game, tallying two goals in the contest. His first was initially credited to Brad Lambert but was later changed. There was no doubt about his second goal, both shown below:
Good job by Helenius to get his massive frame in front of the net.
Essentially a backdoor tap-in to secure Finland’s 3-1 victory.
Helge Grans
Helge Grans and Team Sweden opened play in Red Deer following Finland’s game in Edmonton. Grans logged over 21 minutes time-on-ice, collecting two helpers en route to Sweden’s 6-3 win over Kirill Kirsanov and Team Russia.
He had a secondary assist on Oskar Olausson’s goal that opened the scoring and later had the primary assist on Emil Andrae’s goal. Here was Grans’ primary helper in a 5-on-3 advantage for Team Sweden:
Martin Chromiak
How good is this guy going to be? After scoring in Thursday’s exhibition, LA Kings 2020 fifth-round pick Martin Chromiak had not one but two goals in Team Slovakia’s 3-2 loss against the United States. After trailing 3-0, Chromiak did his best to help the team clawback. Here are both of his goals:
An absolute snipe on that one-timer.
“I’m more confident, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Chromiak said of where his game has grown the most since last year’s World Juniors. “Other players were older, and now I’m the oldest guy here. I know my role here is scoring goals and help the team win games, so that’s why I’m here, and I think last year’s World Juniors was a great experience for me.”
A complete summary of all Kings prospects on Day 1:
Day 2 of the World Juniors rolls on with Kings prospects in three of the four games:
- Austria vs Finland (Simontaival, Helenius)
- Russia (Kirsanov) vs Switzerland
- Germany vs Czechia
- Sweden (Grans) vs Slovakia (Chromiak)
More must-reads: