By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Wednesday marked the final day of preliminary games at the World Cup of Hockey before the tournament begins for real on Saturday with Round Robin play.
A couple of Flyers players made an impact in the Team North America-Team Czech Republic game.
Goalie Michal Neuvirth appears to have cemented his status at Czech Republic's No. 1 goalie after making 25 saves in just over half of the game before being pulled for Petr Mrazek. Neuvirth's 25 saves, including a pair which can be seen below, held Team North America off the board to that point in the game. So far in the preliminary games, Neuvirth has allowed one goal on 46 shots in his two appearances in preliminary games.
When Mrazek entered the game, Czech Republic had a 1-0 lead and opened it to a 2-0 lead early in the third period. Goals were scored by Ondrej Palat and Radek Faksa.
Just 1:42 after Czech Republic made it a 2-0 game, Shayne Gostisbehere got in on the scoring with his first goal of the preliminary games, a strong slapshot from the along the left side boards.
Czech Republic went on to win the game, 3-2, after a go-ahead goal by Tomas Plekanec with 8:10 remaining. Plekanec's game-winner came just 53 seconds after Auston Matthews scored to tie the game.
In other games on Wednesday, Mark Streit had an assist in Team Europe's 6-2 win over Team Sweden. Claude Giroux was a healthy scratch for Team Canada on Wednesday after taking quite a few hits in the team's first two games over the weekend.
The World Cup of Hockey opens on Saturday with a pair of games. Team USA will face Team Europe at 3:30 p.m. and Team Czech Republic will face Team Canada at 8 p.m.
The remaining four teams open play on Sunday as Team Russia faces Team Sweden at 3 p.m. and Team North America faces Team Finland at 8 p.m.
