The Devils issued a press release today put out by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ray Shero stating that both Cory Schneider and Patrik Elias underwent successful surgeries this past week.
Elias had surgery on his right knee on Wednesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Riley Williams performed the surgery, which Shero called a “success” but that “we will continue to monitor Patrik’s rehabilitation and progress.”
Schneider had surgery on Tuesday at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia to repair a core muscle injury. Dr. William Meyers performed this procedure. Shero said that his recovery time is expected to be about six weeks.
Moving over to St. Petersburg and the 2016 IIHF World Championships, Team USA blanked France 4-0 on Thursday. The US began their goal rush in the second period, getting a power play goal from Chris Wideman (assists to Nick Foligno and Dylan Larkin) about 14 minutes in. The Americans doubled their lead two minutes later when Connor Murphy scored (from Auston Matthews and Frank Vatrano). They added a third goal with five seconds left in the second frame when JT Compher scored from Matt Hendricks and Tyler Motte.
One minute and nineteen seconds into the third period, Brady Skjei made it 4-0 in favor of the US (assist to Larkin) to put the icing on the cake. Goaltender Mike Condon made 19 saves in the shutout victory while the US peppered French goalie Florian Hardy with 31 shots (he made 27 saves).
Of the Devils involved in the game, Steve Santini had one shot on goal in 10:46 of ice time; Miles Wood had three shots on goal and was a plus-1 all in 11:01 of ice time; and David Warsofsky had two shots on goal, was a plus-1 all in 17:28 of ice time.
Coach John Hynes’ squad now has two wins and moves into a tie for second place in Group B with Slovakia. The Americans next play on Friday against Hungary.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russia got goals from Alexi Marchenko, Maxim Chuinov, Nikita Zaitsev, Sergei Shirokov, Yevgeni Dadonov, and Artemi Panarin as well as two from Vadim Shipachyov and Sergei Mozyakin to rout the Danes 10-1. The lone Danish goal came off the stick of Jannik Hansen early in the second period.
Sergei Kalinin registered one shot on goal in 11:37 of ice time.
Russia will soon be getting even more firepower as Alexander Ovechkin, Yevgeni Kuznetsov and Dmitri Orlov (all of the recently dispatched-from-the-Stanley Cup Playoffs Washington Capitals) will be joining the team soon. They could be joining the team as soon as their next game which is Saturday against Switzerland.