TORONTO -- Team Canada fought off its poorest performance of the World Cup of Hockey and found a way to edge Europe 3-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three final Tuesday night.A masterpiece this was not.Whether it was because the Air Canada Centre was lifeless and the players got spooked, or perhaps the Canadians had trouble getting fired up to face a Europe team that had never existed before this tournament, the Olympic champions looked unmotivated at times, were sloppy with the puck, and lacked the kind of four-line cohesion we had seen since the start of the tournament.And yet perhaps it just goes to show the disparity in talent between these two teams: Europe played a strong game Tuesday night, while Canada played well below its potential -- and still the result went in favor of the favorites.Carey Price had something to do with that. The 2014-15 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner made a number of difficult saves to keep Europe at bay.Its a also a reminder of how daunting it is to beat this Canadian side, which has now gone 11-0 since the start of the 2014 Sochi Olympics (and won 15 consecutive games in best-on-best hockey dating back to the Vancouver Olympics in 2010). Even when a team is able to finally wrestle the puck away from Team Canada and generate chances, like Europe did plenty of times on Tuesday night, it finds the best goalie in the world waiting for them. Its almost not fair.Brad Marchand and Steven Stamkos scored in the opening frame for Canada, but Europes?Tomas Tatar?made things interesting with a second-period goal for Europe.Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock looked none too pleased as the second period played itself out, Canada easily playing its worst 20 minutes of the tournament.Bergerons third-period tally -- how great has that Sidney Crosby unit been? -- ended the suspense.The crowd certainly didnt help. There were empty seats throughout the rink even though officially it was a sellout, which means lots of people paid for tickets but had better things to do on this night. Its worth noting the Toronto Blue Jays, trying to cement a wild-card spot in the final week of the baseball season, were opening a series with AL East rival Baltimore just down the street.The point was hammered home during a TV timeout when the giant scoreboard in the Air Canada Centre showed Mario Lemieuxs winning goal from the deciding game of the 1987 Canada Cup final, the crowd at Copps Coliseum that night in Hamilton absolutely delirious. It was electric.You got absolutely none of that on this night in the opening of this World Cup final. Perhaps that has to do with the opposition. Team Europe is a terrific story, but lets not kid ourselves, its hard for Canadian hockey fans to muster much animosity for a team that didnt exist before this tournament.Of course, had Europe prevailed on this night, that might have added all kinds of intrigue in this final. Maybe the Europeans can pull it off Thursday night in Game 2. But I suspect Team Canada, after a talking-to from Babcock, will be much better and energized to end the tournament.Three stars1.?Carey Price, G, Team Canada: Rarely during this Team Canada run that dates back to Sochi has the Montreal Canadiens star had to make the difference, but he certainly did on this night. Canada needed him. And he delivered with his usual poise and confidence.2.?Anze Kopitar, C, Team Europe: The Los Angeles Kings captain was all over the puck, having an impactful night that gave Canada fits.3.?Patrice Bergeron, RW, Team Canada: Had a beauty of an assist in setting up the opening goal and then scored the back-breaker midway through the third period to cement the win. Wholesale Charlotte Hornets Jerseys . P.A. Parenteau scored early in the third period to help the Avs edge Toronto 2-1 on Tuesday night. Cory Sarich also scored for Colorado (3-0-0), which is off to its best ever start. Cheap Nike Hornets Jerseys . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. http://www.cheaphornetsjerseys.us/?tag=larry-johnson-jersey ., and Rudi Swiegers of Kipling, Sask., took sixth spot on Saturday in pairs at the NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix figure skating competition. Dell Curry Jersey . Most important, perhaps, it went off without a hitch. Organizers poked a little fun at the now-infamous opening ceremony gaffe that saw only four out of five snowflakes open up into rings, leaving the Olympics logo one ring short. Muggsy Bogues Jersey . R.J. Umberger scored twice to lead the Blue Jackets to a franchise-record for consecutive wins with a 5-3 victory Tuesday night over the Los Angeles Kings. DETROIT -- Dylan Larkin scored two goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their fifth consecutive win, a 4-2 decision over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.Andreas Athanasiou had a goal and an assist and Thomas Vanek scored for Detroit (5-2-0). Petr Mrazek made 28 saves for the Red Wings, whose last five-game winning streak was Jan. 13-27, 2015.Jordan Staal and Victor Rask scored for Carolina while Cam Ward stopped 21 shots.An apparent goal by the Hurricanes Teuvo Teravainen with 3:03 left was waved off because he deflected a shot in with a high stick.Athanasiou gave Detroit a 4-2 lead with 2:56 left in the second period on a wrist shot from the right circle. It was Athanasious second goal of the season.That was after Carolina scored twice in the second to pull within a goal.Staal put the Hurricanes on the board 6:43 into the middle period when he capitalized on a 2-on-0 break after a turnover in his own zone by Detroits Frans Nielsen. Staal beat Mrazek high on the glove side for his third goal.Rask made it 3-2 with 6:48 left in the second period. His shot from low in the left circle went in off Mrazek for Rasks fourth goal. It came four seconds after Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith returned to the ice after a hoolding penalty.ddddddddddddanek opened the scoring 4:53 into the game when he put a one-time shot from the slot through Wards pads. It was Vaneks fourth goal.Larkins first goal of the season came on a breakaway with 8:09 left in the first period. After taking a backhand pass out of the Red Wings zone from left wing Henrik Zetterberg, Larkin made a move and put a backhand shot under the crossbar.Larkins second goal was 4:04 later when his attempted pass from along the goal line to Wards left deflected in off Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce, who was sliding in an attempt to block the pass.Game notes Detroit LW Justin Abdelkader missed his second game with a lower body injury. He is listed as day-to-day. . Carolina F Jeff Skinner did not play because of an undisclosed injury. . Hurricanes LW Andrej Nestrasil and RW Martin Frk were both waived by the Red Wings and played on the fourth line Tuesday night with C Jay McClement. . Carolina coach Bill Peters is a former assistant coach with the Red Wings.UP NEXT:Hurricanes: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.Red Wings: At the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. Cheap Jerseys 2018 Jerseys Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys 2019 NFL Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap Jerseys From China ' ' '