VANCOUVER, Canada—Despite being a pre-Olympic gold medal favorite in ice hockey, the Russians faced the proverbial must-win game on Sunday against the Czech Republic.
It was a close one for Russian head coach Vyacheslav Bykov and his squad but they were able to hold on for a 4–2 victory.
While Bykov has an All-World roster that includes Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Semin, to name a few, his team committed a gaffe on Thursday when it lost in a shootout to the Slovaks 2–1 and dropped to third in the Group B standings.
The Czechs were group leaders but a regulation time win would allow the Russians to jump into first place in the standings.
One of the major complaints against Russia entering the game was the lack of pop on their power play, where they were a mere 1–13. But when Czech Jaromir Jagr was whistled for holding at the 14:38 mark, Malkin scored on the subsequent man advantage for the team’s first power play marker since their opener against Latvia.
The power play worked against the Russians late in the first period however, when they went down two men—Konstantin Korneyev and Sergei Fedorov both for tripping. This allowed Tomas Plekanec to even things up for the Czechs.
With the score 2–1 Russia in the second, the Czech Republic raised their hands in celebration when it appeared that defenseman Roman Polak had knotted the affair up at 2–2 but the ref had blown the whistle to stop play—no goal.
At the start of the third, Malkin scored his second of the game, beating Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun but the Czech Republic’s Milan Michalek scored at 14:51 to narrow the lead to 3–2.
The Czechs pulled Vokoun at the 19:10 mark but Pavel Datsyuk scored into the empty net in the dying seconds to cement the win for the Russians.
Russia earned three points for the regulation win and thanks to that, was able to overtake the Czech Republic to finish as Group B winner.
While Malkin led the team in goals, Ovechkin chipped in with a pair of assists and delivered some hard hits, including one on Jagr to set up Malkin’s game winner.
Jagr said that while Ovechkin’s hit hurt, the penalty he took early in the game that led to Russia’s first goal hurt more.
“I think the first penalty I had wasn’t a penalty at all [holding] and I’m not going to cry about it,” Jagr said after the game.
“You know, the referees are always right. If it was legal or wasn’t legal, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t do it, I should make a different decision.”
The win gives the Russians a bye to Wednesday’s quarterfinal round where they will play one of the winners of Tuesday’s qualification round.
The Czechs will take part in the qualification round and will advance to the quarters with a Tuesday win.
It was a close one for Russian head coach Vyacheslav Bykov and his squad but they were able to hold on for a 4–2 victory.
While Bykov has an All-World roster that includes Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Semin, to name a few, his team committed a gaffe on Thursday when it lost in a shootout to the Slovaks 2–1 and dropped to third in the Group B standings.
The Czechs were group leaders but a regulation time win would allow the Russians to jump into first place in the standings.
One of the major complaints against Russia entering the game was the lack of pop on their power play, where they were a mere 1–13. But when Czech Jaromir Jagr was whistled for holding at the 14:38 mark, Malkin scored on the subsequent man advantage for the team’s first power play marker since their opener against Latvia.
The power play worked against the Russians late in the first period however, when they went down two men—Konstantin Korneyev and Sergei Fedorov both for tripping. This allowed Tomas Plekanec to even things up for the Czechs.
With the score 2–1 Russia in the second, the Czech Republic raised their hands in celebration when it appeared that defenseman Roman Polak had knotted the affair up at 2–2 but the ref had blown the whistle to stop play—no goal.
At the start of the third, Malkin scored his second of the game, beating Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun but the Czech Republic’s Milan Michalek scored at 14:51 to narrow the lead to 3–2.
The Czechs pulled Vokoun at the 19:10 mark but Pavel Datsyuk scored into the empty net in the dying seconds to cement the win for the Russians.
Russia earned three points for the regulation win and thanks to that, was able to overtake the Czech Republic to finish as Group B winner.
While Malkin led the team in goals, Ovechkin chipped in with a pair of assists and delivered some hard hits, including one on Jagr to set up Malkin’s game winner.
Jagr said that while Ovechkin’s hit hurt, the penalty he took early in the game that led to Russia’s first goal hurt more.
“I think the first penalty I had wasn’t a penalty at all [holding] and I’m not going to cry about it,” Jagr said after the game.
“You know, the referees are always right. If it was legal or wasn’t legal, I made a mistake, I shouldn’t do it, I should make a different decision.”
The win gives the Russians a bye to Wednesday’s quarterfinal round where they will play one of the winners of Tuesday’s qualification round.
The Czechs will take part in the qualification round and will advance to the quarters with a Tuesday win.
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