By the second period of Great Britain's last game at the 2019 IIHF World Championship, the evidence on offer seemed damning: The Brits didn't belong at the tournament.

Little else could be said for a team that had returned to the top flight of international hockey for the first time in 25 years. After six mostly humbling losses to the likes of Canada, Finland, and Denmark, the Brits stumbled to a 3-0 deficit against France, another lowly trespasser in the mighty round-robin gamut. Britain had been outscored 41-5 to that point in the tournament. No outsider could have thought the final 30 minutes of action would look much better.

Only someone on the inside, then, could adequately explain the comeback that ensued - three British goals in the span of 10 minutes, followed by a backhand deke in overtime that found twine.

Cue the celebratory hysteria. Cue the sense that Britain maybe did deserve to stick around.

"We just had that kind of British-bulldog fight," forward Liam Kirk said several months later as he reminisced about the 4-3 victory. "We never gave in. We kept fighting. We kept believing. That was the big thing - the belief that we were going to do it."

Sage advice, that, especially for a player in Kirk's situation. By stunning France, the Brits guaranteed themselves another appearance in the World Championship's top division next spring. Avoiding relegation was an affirmation of Britain's hockey credibility and a welcome step in the nation's quest to enter the stratosphere - if not quite the innermost circle - of the sport's elite. Hang around long enough, and the case for perpetual admission will be strong.

In the meantime, there's more that Britain can do to keep pace with the Frances of this world. No born-and-bred (emphasis on the "bred") Englishman, Welshman, or Scot has ever played in the NHL. If all goes to plan - if self-belief, supplemented by tantalizing offensive skill, coalesces with sufficient good fortune - Kirk will become the first.

In Canada, Kirk, 19, is authoring the type of junior season that suggests he could one day hack it in the pros. Through 20 games, his 12 goals and 27 points slot him among the Ontario Hockey League's top 20 scorers, a hair behind his Peterborough Petes teammates (and Toronto Maple Leafs prospects) Nick Robertson and Semyon Der-Arguchintsev. Such production is hardly shabby from a winger with a radically atypical upbringing - a path from childhood to teenage stardom to, possibly, the next level that resembles no one else's in hockey.

When the Arizona Coyotes selected Kirk in the seventh round of the 2018 NHL Draft, he'd just played a full professional season with the Sheffield Steelers of Britain's top-tier Elite Ice Hockey League. Kirk was born in nearby Maltby, England, and his ascent to the Steelers' roster marked the end of his advance through Sheffield's minor system, where the scarcity of available ice time tended to limit his teams to a single hour of practice per week.

That constraint constitutes the simplest explanation for why Britain has never sent a homegrown player to the NHL. Retired veterans such as Ken Hodge, Owen Nolan, and Steve Thomas were all born in the United Kingdom but raised in Canada. Detroit Red Wings winger Brendan Perlini, the son of a Canadian who spent most of his career starring in Britain, lived in England's Surrey region until age 11 but moved to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, for the rest of his formative years.

Kirk is fully a product of his nation's hockey programs. Now, he's looking to prove himself worthy of an entry-level NHL contract and capable, someday, of taking that elusive next milestone step.

"That will show others that they can do the same thing," he said. "I never left Sheffield. I never left the country (before age 18) to play hockey. And I still got drafted and still have this opportunity to make it further."

It has to be said that Kirk is far from a surefire future NHLer. Plenty of seventh-round picks don't wind up with a contract offer from the team that drafted them. Even if Kirk does impress the Coyotes this season, his shot at the show would still be several years off. No seventh-rounder selected in any draft since 2015 has earned a regular role in the NHL.

With those caveats in mind, boosters of British hockey have reason to be proud of Kirk's unique rise, and to err on the side of cautious optimism when envisioning his potential. Coaches and teammates describe him as a creative, unselfish forward whose offensive gifts are copious: good hands, feet, and hockey sense, with a coolness under duress and a quick, deceptive shot release.

"Whether he's got the puck on his stick or you pass to him, you know you've got a good chance of scoring," said Petes captain Zach Gallant, a San Jose Sharks forward prospect.

"We all know he can skate. We all know he can shoot. We all know he can pass," Peterborough head coach Rob Wilson added. "But I think what Liam's growing on, and trying to grow on, is the fact that now that the adjustment is over, he can be a North American hockey player. He's finding his feet and doing a very good job of it."

Kirk's adjustment to Canadian ice - and, simultaneously, to life on an unfamiliar continent - manifested in a 13-game pointless streak early in the 2018-19 season, when he first joined the Petes from Sheffield. Comfort arrived with time. Kirk has scored at a point-per-game clip ever since that dry spell, profiting from a mutually beneficial partnership with Robertson and Der-Arguchintsev, his frequent linemates at the top of Peterborough's depth chart. Scoring chances abound when Wilson deploys that talented trio.

The top line's collective breakout, not coincidentally, has run parallel to an uptick in the Petes' fortunes. The junior franchise, which counts Hall of Famers Bob Gainey, Larry Murphy, Chris Pronger, and Steve Yzerman as alumni, has played mediocre hockey for most of this century, stumbling to nine losing seasons in 13 years since a surge to the OHL championship in 2006.

With nearly a third of this season in the books, the Petes are 14-5-1, second in the OHL's Eastern Conference through Friday's games and 10th in the Canadian Hockey League's weekly national rankings (as voted on by a panel of NHL scouts). Hunter Jones, a 19-year-old Minnesota Wild prospect, is tied for fifth in the OHL among starting goalies in save percentage. Declan Chisholm, a 19-year-old Winnipeg Jets prospect, has more assists (25) than any other OHL defenseman. Kirk, Robertson, and Der-Arguchintsev, meanwhile, have combined to score 35 of Peterborough's 90 goals; the latter figure is the No. 3 team total in the league.

"Once you put a lot of lethal power into one line and we produce a lot, I think it carries on through the whole team," said Robertson, the top unit's primary finisher with 19 goals (and nine assists). "All three of us demand the puck and are comfortable with the puck on our stick and want it all the time."

As for how Kirk, in particular, is playing?

"He's performing under pressure, with trying to sign (with Arizona) and whatnot," Robertson said. "I just see a lot of confidence."

The context of Robertson's assessment is an inescapable subplot of Kirk's season. Next summer looms as a watershed juncture in his career. If Arizona offers him an entry-level contract, he'll have three years of runway to audition for a second pro deal and a possible future call-up to the NHL. If the Coyotes renounce his rights - they have until June 1 to decide - he'll become a free agent without that security and a prescribed pathway forward.

Kirk, for his part, said he tries to avoid thinking too far into the future, though he acknowledged that playing well enough to sign (and, hopefully, to earn an AHL roster spot next year) is his main personal goal for this season. He's focused on increasing his physicality, which is in line with Arizona's desire to see him play a more direct game - "Frankly, a North American-style game," said Coyotes director of player development Mark Bell - by venturing with greater frequency to the middle of the ice and into grimy goal-scoring areas.

"We're keeping a keen eye on him, and we've got a decision to make," Bell added. "There's only so many contracts we can hand out. We'll see if he earns one."

This contract calculus has cost a promising young British player before. Colin Shields might have toppled his nation's NHL barrier had the Philadelphia Flyers - the club that drafted the Scottish forward during the sixth round in 2000 - offered him a deal out of the University of Maine. They didn't, nor did the Sharks after a subsequent tryout, and Shields' American hockey travels peaked in the ECHL over two seasons in the mid-2000s.

Shields soon returned to the U.K. and carved out an unassailable legacy as the leading scorer in EIHL history (603 career points in 559 games). He played for Britain as the national team clambered from the third flight of the World Championship into the top division. He shared the ice with Kirk at each of the last two worlds before retiring at age 39 following the famous win over France.

While speaking over the phone from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Shields recounted the appreciation he gained for Kirk's attitude - his lack of cockiness and resolve to leave the ice last at practice - and for the youngster's strength on his skates despite entering this season at 6-feet, 166 pounds. He passed along the advice he'd give to Kirk heading forward: Stick it out in North America for as long as possible.

"The hockey in the U.K. is always going to be here," Shields said. "If it doesn't work out, there's always an opportunity for him to come back and play here as long as he wants."

For now, Kirk has laid down some roots on this side of the pond. He's wearing an alternate captain's "A" this season in Peterborough, where he's introduced the occasional Briticism to the dressing room - "body armor" as a synonym for shoulder pads, for instance, which Robertson initially mistook to mean deodorant.

Kirk's also grown close to his billet family. His billet mother was there last week when Kirk's parents - in town for an unexpected visit - moved him to tears in the arena concourse after a home game.

The Petes hope a deep playoff run is in the offing, though if their charge ends short of the OHL final, Kirk will at least be able to represent Britain again at the World Championship in May. Growing up, the time difference mostly restricted his intake of NHL action to next-day highlights. This year's tournament was his first chance to match up with present and future NHL stars - including, to name two of the few other teenagers in Britain's round-robin group, Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko - and to witness just how fast players of that caliber move the puck.

Like his draft day and this ongoing season, Kirk's participation at that tournament was an experience to enjoy and then store away, for the moment, in order to fully concentrate on the process at hand. Someday he'll retire, and then he'll have ample time, he figures, to reflect on his career's significance, and to appreciate the gravity of everything he's done on the ice and might yet do.

"Then I can sit down and see the accomplishments," Kirk said. "For now, my focus is just to get there first."

Nick Faris is a features writer at theScore.

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Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin doesn't think there was anything egregious about his heavy hit on Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin.

"It's hockey, it's not a ballet," Ovechkin told reporters, including The Athletic's Tarik El-Bashir, postgame Friday.

Ovechkin crunched Drouin with a massive bodycheck early in the second period of Montreal's 5-2 win.

"Like I said, it's a hockey play," Ovechkin added. "He didn't see me. It's a clear hit. Nothing to say."

Canadiens center Phillip Danault said Ovechkin's hit "woke us up," according to The Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.

Danault opened the scoring about two minutes after the check, and Montreal added three more goals to take a 4-0 lead before the end of the frame.

Drouin left the game but returned and played six shifts in the third period.

Ovechkin wasn't assessed a penalty on the play.

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Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin keeps on trucking at the ripe old age of 34.

Ovechkin unleashed a thunderous hit on Montreal Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin at the beginning of the second period during Friday night's matchup.

Drouin was visibly shaken up after the hit and immediately went to the dressing room. He missed the rest of the period, but returned to start the third. No penalty was handed out on the play.

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The segment previously dedicated to "Coach's Corner" on Hockey Night in Canada could be headed in a new direction following Don Cherry's dismissal.

"We're taking the time to explore new formats for the first intermission," Sportsnet communications director Andrew Garas told The Canadian Press' Gregory Strong on Friday.

This Saturday night's first-intermission segment will highlight the 2019 Hockey Hall of Fame inductees ahead of Monday's induction ceremony, Garas added.

Sportsnet fired Cherry on Monday after the longtime pundit made offensive comments about immigrants during last Saturday's broadcast.

Ron MacLean, who hosted "Coach's Corner" alongside Cherry for decades, said this week he plans to address the matter again Saturday after apologizing last Sunday.

Amid speculation about MacLean's future, he tweeted Friday that he is "not leaving Saturdays."

"Coach's Corner" has been a fixture of CBC - and later Sportsnet - broadcasts on Saturday nights since 1982. The segment was built around Cherry, and it began with the 85-year-old being featured alongside host Dave Hodge in 1982. MacLean took over for Hodge in 1986 and hosted the segment since.

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You may not want to leave your house this weekend.

It'll be an especially mesmerizing few days in the Eastern Conference as both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are playing back-to-back games, the two division leaders meet at TD Garden, and the league's hottest team faces a tough test in the City of Brotherly Love.

The Western Conference slate might lack the same fireworks, but there are still some great games during a weekend with something for every kind of hockey fan.

Game betting

Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs (Friday)

It's tough to say a team is in a must-win situation this early in the season, especially when that club is just a point back of second in its division. But this certainly has the feel of a must-win contest for the Leafs. Toronto has lost three straight, and it seems like everyone in the organization has their finger on the panic button.

Back the Leafs to come out with some real urgency and take care of business on home ice. Wait until close to puck drop to do it, as the line is dropping to nearly even with the public on the Bruins.

Montreal Canadiens at Washington Capitals (Friday)

It seems like every Capitals home game finishes with seven goals. Six of their nine contests at Capital One Arena have finished at that number, making the Caps the second-most profitable over team on home ice this season, one game shy of Vegas.

However, Capitals-Canadiens matchups aren't always high scoring. Just two of the last 16 meetings between these teams in Washington have gone over the total. Look for the Habs to play a tight defensive game while Carey Price stays hot, keeping this contest under 6.5 goals.

Dallas Stars at Edmonton Oilers (Saturday)

It's been an entertaining week to watch the Oilers, with the team producing 25 goals in three games. Captain Connor McDavid has recorded six goals and four assists already this week, but adding to his tally is far from guaranteed against the Stars.

Dallas has established itself as a defensive juggernaut, with the Stars allowing just eight goals in their last five road contests. The Oilers are no stranger to low-scoring games either, as this week's outburst has been more the exception than the norm.

The total here should be inflated due to Edmonton's recent offensive explosion, and this is a spot to ride with the under.

Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins (Saturday)

The Atlantic Division leader hosts the top team in the Metropolitan Division on Saturday night in what could be an Eastern Conference Final preview.

There arguably hasn't been two better teams in the NHL so far this season, and with both clubs also playing on Friday night, this game will likely feature two backup goalies. You should feel confident siding with the Bruins' Jaroslav Halak over Ilya Samsonov, especially on home ice. Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals are still likely experiencing nightmares from Halak stonewalling them in the 2010 playoffs.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Pittsburgh Penguins (Saturday)

The Leafs have been unmistakably awful during the second half of back-to-back games this year, posting an 0-5 record. The Penguins will also be dealing with a back-to-back set including travel in this spot, meaning the contest will likely feature a pair of young goalies.

Kasimir Kaskisuo is in line for his NHL debut after the Leafs waived Michael Hutchinson. Meanwhile, the Penguins' Tristan Jarry has been nothing short of excellent this season, posting a 2.26 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. He'll be the difference on Saturday when the Penguins drop the Leafs to 0-6 in back-to-backs.

New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers (Saturday)

This game deserves plenty of attention, too. The Islanders are on a simply remarkable 12-0-1 run, with head coach Barry Trotz working his magic once again. The Flyers have been solid in their own right, and both teams look like strong bets to reach the playoffs and potentially even meet in the first round.

Philadelphia will be at a disadvantage after playing on Friday night, with fatigue a possible issue as the team plays its fifth game in eight days. The first three of those games all went to a shootout.

Back the Isles to stay hot as they start their Pennsylvania trip with two points.

Game props

New York Rangers at Florida Panthers (Saturday)

As much as the over looks like a great play in this spot - it's hit in each of the last nine meetings between these teams, including last weekend - let's focus on the Rangers here because we'll get their team total at a much better price.

They've scored three-plus goals in each of their last nine games against the Panthers, and New York has tallied four-plus markers in seven of those clashes. And it's not like Florida is playing great defense these days.

Anaheim Ducks at St. Louis Blues (Saturday)

These two teams don't allow a ton of goals, play disciplined hockey, and rarely experience defensive breakdowns. Goals will be at a premium in this one, and as much as the overall under looks nice, the first-period under will come at a much better price.

Seven of the last eight meetings between the Ducks and Blues in St. Louis have gone under the first-period total. Of course, John Gibson and Jordan Binnington patrolling the creases here also helps our cause.

Player props

Detroit Red Wings at San Jose Sharks (Saturday)

No team has allowed more goals this season than the Red Wings, and they also own the league's worst penalty kill. Evander Kane leads the Sharks with seven power-play goals, and he's in a good spot to add to that tally on Saturday night.

Alex Moretto is a sports betting writer for theScore. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, is too impatient for futures, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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