Mouat cruises past Carruthers to move up to 2-0 in KIOTI National

PICTOU COUNTY, N.S. — Bruce Mouat and his squad from Scotland are back on track in the Grand Slam of Curling.

Mouat scored his second straight win to begin the KIOTI National with a sharp 7-2 victory in only five ends over Reid Carruthers' Winnipeg club Wednesday afternoon at the Pictou County Wellness Centre.

Team Mouat shot 96 per cent in the game with third Grant Hardie firing at a perfect pace of 100 per cent.

The five-time Grand Slam champion Mouat said it feels nice having his team play like they normally do in the series after going 1-3 and missing the playoffs in last month's HearingLife Tour Challenge.

"We’ve been working over the last two weeks because we came away from the last Slam pretty deflated," Mouat said. "We put in a lot of hard work over those two weeks and it feels good to have two really solid wins on the back of what was a pretty tough last Slam."

Although Carruthers opened with the hammer, Mouat took control sitting four rocks in the house in the first end. Carruthers clicked off the top counter and conceded a steal of two.

Mouat stole another point in the second end to make it 3-0. Carruthers hit off Mouat's stone from the side of the four-foot circle but was only able to nudge another that held up for shot rock.

"Over the last two weeks, we had some pretty honest discussions, which were nice," Mouat said. "We didn’t start games as well last time. This time we came out trying to put pressure on as soon as we got on the ice and we did that pretty well in that game. When it works, it works and sometimes you’re trying to find it but this time it seemed like we found it."

Carruthers recovered with a draw to the lid in the third end while facing three counters to get on the board with a single. That gave Mouat his first crack of the hammer in the fourth and his team took advantage capping a solid end with an open hit to score a four that put the game out of reach.

"It was a really well-played end," Mouat said. "Grant made a really good runback kind of roll into the rings as well. It set us up for a really good end then we got a wee bit of a miss from Reid and gave us that shot for four."

Mouat pulled off a double takeout in the fifth, Carruthers (0-2) opted to hit for a single point and shook hands.

Elsewhere, Kevin Koe and his Calgary-based club drew level to a 1-1 record with a 7-3 decision against Riku Yanagisawa's team from Japan.

It was a bit of revenge for Koe as he lost to Yanagisawa in the HearingLife Tour Challenge and finished pool play with a 2-2 record, missing the playoffs based on draw-to-the-button shootout totals.

"We know we’re going to have to earn it this week," Team Koe third Tyler Tardi said. "Our draw is already not great, so we’re probably going to have to win out for a solid chance, which isn’t a good feeling after day one at a Slam. But we strung together a pretty good game today, just one end, we’re feeling pretty decent."

Tied 3-all after five, Koe put the pressure on late stealing the go-ahead point in the sixth and swiping another for insurance in the seventh. Koe held a firm grip in the eighth end with five rocks in the house. Yanagisawa fired into the pile hoping to score the tying two but gave up another pair of points instead.

"They’re definitely playing well against us," Tardi said. "We’re having a lot of good games and they’re all very tight. They’re a great team and it’s good to get that win."

Yannick Schwaller lifted his Swiss side to a 2-0 record with a 7-6 extra-end victory over James Craik's squad from Scotland (0-2).

Joël Retornaz also improved to 2-0 with his Italian team earning a 6-3 win against Korey Dropkin's team from the United States (1-1).

UP NEXT

The KIOTI National continues with Draw 7 at 4 p.m. local time (AT).

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.

NOTES

The KIOTI National is the second event of the Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 16 of the top men's teams and 16 of the top women's teams from around the world. ... Each team plays four round-robin games with the top eight advancing to Saturday's quarterfinals. ... The semifinals are also on tap Saturday with both finals scheduled for Sunday.