Palffy Sits, Slovak Chances Melt Away

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah —  There was some serious second-guessing after Slovakia’s 6-6 tie with Latvia Sunday night at the E Center eliminated the Slovaks from men’s hockey contention.

There was second-guessing of a system that forces teams such as Slovakia to cut and paste lineups together in the midst of an active NHL regular-season schedule.

There was second-guessing of Slovakian Jan Filc’s decision to use Ziggy Palffy against Germany on Saturday.

There was even second-guessing of Filc’s future with the team--by Filc himself.

There’s no future for the team in this tournament, not after the tie dropped Slovakia to 0-1-1 in Group A qualification round play. The Slovaks had to win their two remaining games in the round-robin competition to have any prayer of advancing after losing to Germany, which is 2-0-0 and the group’s leading candidate for the spot in the final round.

Their situation was so desperate even when they fell behind by two goals to Germany that Filc sent Palffy in midway through the game, even though the Kings had told Slovakia that Palffy would only be available Sunday. Palffy didn’t even get a shot on goal in that game, and to appease the Kings (and prevent Palffy from having to play a total of three King games and two Olympic games in five nights) he was not in uniform on Sunday.

Filc doesn’t think his services will be required after this disappointing week.

“I think it will cost also my coaching chair,” Filc said. “That’s a reality.”

Slovakia did have the use of King Lubomir Visnovsky. He missed the Kings’ game in Phoenix Friday with an injury and played sparingly Saturday but he was of full service Sunday and even scored a goal.

More reinforcements from the NHL arrived, in the form of Marian Hossa (Ottawa), Pavol Demitra (St. Louis) and former King Jozef Stumpel (Boston). Each scored a goal Sunday as Slovakia built a 6-3 lead.

But Latvia scored a goal with four seconds remaining in the second period and two more in the third.