Ryan O'Reilly ready to jump right into World Cup for Canada
PITTSBURGH – The question posed to Ryan O’Reilly was a simple one.
Relaxing at home following a skate with Sabres teammates in Buffalo on Tuesday, O’Reilly got a call and was asked, “How quick can you get to Pittsburgh?”
Canada was in need of a replacement at forward following Tyler Seguin’s exit from the World Cup of Hockey with a nagging ankle injury and O’Reilly was ready. He knew that a phone call might be coming after speaking with GM Doug Armstrong earlier in the week about the banged up roster.
“[The call] helped me get a little mentally prepared, get going a bit quicker and kind of in that game shape,” O’Reilly said Wednesday morning at Consol Energy Center.
Canada will play Russia in their final tune-up before their tournament starts for real on Saturday against the Czech Republic. And while O’Reilly has barely settled in Pittsburgh, he will be in the lineup Wednesday night on a line with Joe Thornton and Claude Giroux.
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Mike Babcock likes the addition of O’Reilly because of the chemistry he and Giroux formed during what the head coach called the best line on Canada’s 2015 World Championship winning team.
“Good hockey sense. Knows how to play. Just played in the last two World Championships and was very important for those teams and did a real good job,” Babcock said. “Can penalty kill. Can take face-offs. We can use another penalty killer on face-off guys. That’s important for us.”
O’Reilly understands his job playing between Thornton and Giroux: “I’ve got to skate and get open and find these guys. Playing with Giroux we’ve had success, we’ve put the puck in the net together and hopefully that will continue tonight.”
It’ll be a bit of a change in pace for O’Reilly, who was skating hard in Buffalo but nothing like he’ll see playing in this tournament. The other difference is he’ll need to get up to speed on is the physicality. He watched Canada’s opening exhibition game with the U.S. and likened the intensity to that of a Stanley Cup Playoff game.
“I know it’s going to be a fast pace, probably that same thing tonight, that same intensity,” he said. “It’s good to get one out of the way before the tournament.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
