GANGNEUNG, Korea, Republic Of -- Team Canada coach Willie Desjardins wants more consistency out of his team in its second Olympic outing Saturday against the Czech Republic.
Canada opened its campaign at the Pyeongchang Winter Games with a 5-1 win over Switzerland on Thursday. Desjardins saw plenty to like but says there's room for improvement.
The Canadian men led 2-0 after 7 1/2 minutes and 4-0 after two periods, only to see the Swiss push back in the third.
"I think we backed off a little bit as the game wore on," said Desjardins.
"It's all about where you're at in another three games from now," he added, referencing the playoff rounds. "We have to keep getting better. That was a good performance. But soon that doesn't matter. It comes down to one game and you've got to win."
Canada is 13-13-1 against the Czech Republic in Olympic and world championship play but has won the last five meetings and eight of the last 10.
Past form means little in a tournament devoid of NHL players, however. The Americans and the team from Russia have already suffered upsets.
"We knew that was going to happen," Desjardins said of the unpredictable results. "We thought it could happen to us, too. Like it's not like we'd be surprised if we dropped a game. Saying that, we'll go out hard every night and obviously try and get our points. But we know there's good opposition and we know it's going to be tight."
The Czechs are captained by veteran forward Martin Erat, a four-time Olympian who racked up 163 goals and 318 assists in 723 games with the Nashville Predators from 2001 to 2013.
He expects a tough day against Canada.
"They're going to come hard," said the 36-year-old Erat, who finished his NHL career with Washington and Phoenix/Arizona before returning home to play.
"They're going to have a lot of scoring chances and we just have to protect our house and get our goals."
Assistant coach Vaclav (Vinny) Prospal says no matter the names on the back of its jerseys, Canada will present the usual problems.
"Just like always. Hard push, physical game and a team that will put everything on the line," said Prospal, who played 16 seasons in the NHL with Philadelphia, Ottawa, Florida, Tampa Bay, Anaheim, the New York Rangers and Columbus.
Prospal, who retired in 2014, helped the Czechs win two world hockey championships and a bronze medal at the 2006 Olympics in Turin.
The Czech Olympic team looks very little like the squad that went 1-1-1 at the 2016 World Cup. But 14 members play in the KHL.
"I know they have a lot of guys with a lot of skill," said Canadian forward Rob Klinkhammer, who plays alongside Czech forward Jiri Sekac for Kazan Ak-Bars in Russia.
"They're going to come with four solid lines so we're going to have to be on our toes."
