World Championship day 8: Less Monahan, but Gaudreau and Backlund scored

Monahan, Gaudreau, and Backlund all played again today. Jiri Hudler will be the only Flame in action tomorrow, when the Czechs take on the Danes at 7:45 a.m. MT.

Team Canada and Sean Monahan

Bad news: Looks like Monahan is Canada's 13th forward again.

Good news: Alex Burrows got injured, so maybe Canada's down to just 12 forwards? But we won't know anything for sure today.

#TeamCanada coach Dave Tippett also hopeful injury to Alex Burrows' left leg is not serious. Should know more tomorrow.

— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) May 16, 2014

Note: it is not a good thing that Burrows got injured because injuries are sad and bad. It's just a good thing if it means Monahan's ice time goes back up.

Monahan only played 5:31 in Team Canada's 6-1 win over Team Italy (Mark Scheifele played 9:10, and was on the ice for Joel Ward's - formerly Monahan's regular linemate - goal). Only Burrows played less, with 4:38 of ice time. He was injured near the end of the first period.

The fact that he was injured in the first and Monahan still saw very little ice time isn't exactly a good sign. His ice time did increase in the third, but he still only played 3:23 then.

Monahan had one shot on net and won two of three faceoffs.

Monahan's next opponent will be Mikael Backund and Team Sweden on Sunday at 7:45 a.m. MT. That's one that should definitely be worth watching.

Team USA and Johnny Gaudreau

Good news (or bad, depending on how you feel about the Americans): Team USA finally won a game again, defeating Team Kazakhstan 4-3 in OT.

Great news: Johnny Gaudreau's entire existence, of course.

Gaudreau had two assists in the Americans' win. The first was on the initial go ahead goal, before Kazakhstan tied it back up in the third. It was, of course, awesome (via @myregularface):

The second was a secondary assist on Seth Jones' overtime winner.

Gaudreau played 17:56 in the win, including 0:33 in OT (OT lasted 1:05). He was fifth out of all American forwards for ice time. He had two shots on net in that time.

The Americans have tomorrow off. They'll be trying to keep their winning streak going Sunday at 7:45 a.m. MT against Finland.

Team Sweden and Mikael Backlund

Bad news: Nothing. Backlund rules.

Good news: Mikael Backlund had the game winning goal in Sweden's 3-1 defeat of Slovakia today.

Backlund had a hell of a game. He led all Swedish forwards with 17:45 of ice time and six shots on net.

The game winner was largely created by him as well. While on the powerplay, Backlund had the puck along the boards. He passed it up to Joakim Lindstrom, and then immediately skated towards the net. Lindstrom passed it back and Backlund snapped it home farside.

His goal was scored with just 11 seconds to go in the first period; he then followed it up with four shots in the second.

Backlund may be having the best tournament of all Flames players there. He has an "A" on one of the best teams, and has five points in five games. He has consistently been among Sweden's ice time and shot leaders.

Basically, it's going to be really exciting to watch him on the Flames next season. He's establishing himself as a key piece on the teams he's been playing on lately.

Backlund will be back in action Sunday when Team Sweden faces Team Canada. 7:45 a.m. MT, TSN.