Helenius, Chromiak, Grans shine on Day 1 of World Juniors

Day 1 of the World Juniors is in the books, and the LA Kings are again well-represented. Here are several highlights and notes from the first day.

Samuel Helenius

2021 second-rounder Samuel Helenius got the party started in the opening game, tallying two goals in the contest. His first was initially credited to Brad Lambert but was later changed. There was no doubt about his second goal, both shown below:

Here we go! The first goal of the 2022 #WorldJuniors belongs to @leijonat's Brad Lambert! #FINGER pic.twitter.com/c8NVlJqd8T

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 26, 2021

Good job by Helenius to get his massive frame in front of the net.

The flying Finns are back!
Samuel Helenius gets right into the net to pick up a nice pass from Brad Lambert and widens @leijonat's lead by 2. #WorldJuniors #FINGER pic.twitter.com/4ZgWTKYM1E

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 26, 2021

Essentially a backdoor tap-in to secure Finland’s 3-1 victory.

Helge Grans

Helge Grans and Team Sweden opened play in Red Deer following Finland’s game in Edmonton. Grans logged over 21 minutes time-on-ice, collecting two helpers en route to Sweden’s 6-3 win over Kirill Kirsanov and Team Russia.

He had a secondary assist on Oskar Olausson’s goal that opened the scoring and later had the primary assist on Emil Andrae’s goal. Here was Grans’ primary helper in a 5-on-3 advantage for Team Sweden:

https://twitter.com/TheDraftAnalyst/status/1475240628577521667?s=20

Martin Chromiak

How good is this guy going to be? After scoring in Thursday’s exhibition, LA Kings 2020 fifth-round pick Martin Chromiak had not one but two goals in Team Slovakia’s 3-2 loss against the United States. After trailing 3-0, Chromiak did his best to help the team clawback. Here are both of his goals:

GOAL🚨: @HockeySlovakia is on the board!

Martin Chromiak takes the one-timer and buries it to cut the @usahockey lead to 3-1.#WorldJuniors #USASVK pic.twitter.com/3wl5nJXkpI

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 27, 2021

An absolute snipe on that one-timer.

Martin Chromiak (#GoKingsGo ) with his second goal of the night! Chromiak was drafted by the @LAKings 128th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft. #WorldJuniors

Profile🔗:https://t.co/xgEt2y9NaWpic.twitter.com/lngv7R8sbU

— Elite Prospects (@eliteprospects) December 27, 2021

“I’m more confident, I think that’s the biggest thing,” Chromiak said of where his game has grown the most since last year’s World Juniors. “Other players were older, and now I’m the oldest guy here. I know my role here is scoring goals and help the team win games, so that’s why I’m here, and I think last year’s World Juniors was a great experience for me.”

A complete summary of all Kings prospects on Day 1:

End of Day 1 at the #WorldJuniors for LA prospects:

🇫🇮
Helenius 2G, +2, 14:13 TOI
Simontaival +1, 16:51 TOI

🇷🇺
Kirsanov +1, 24:08 TOI (team high)

🇸🇪
Grans 2A, -2, 21:11 TOI

🇺🇸
Faber +1, 18:42 TOI

🇸🇰
Chromiak 2G, 18:10 TOI#GoKingsGo

— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) December 27, 2021

Day 2 of the World Juniors rolls on with Kings prospects in three of the four games:

• Austria vs Finland (Simontaival, Helenius)
• Russia (Kirsanov) vs Switzerland
• Germany vs Czechia
• Sweden (Grans) vs Slovakia (Chromiak)