Russia romps to victory, Kazakhstan shocks Latvia
Day two of the IIHF World Championship saw Russia pick up its second victory with a convincing 7-1 verdict over Great Britain in a rare clash between the two nations on the ice. The other KHL-heavy day saw Kazakhstan produce a big surprise by defeating Latvia in a shoot-out just 24 hours after the host nation beat Canada.
Elsewhere, Finland edged a 2-1 verdict over the USA and Switzerland defeated the Czech Republic. Denmark pulled off a surprise 4-3 win over Sweden, with Nicklas Jensen scoring a hat-trick.
Russia overpowers GB
Great Britain 1 Russia 7 (1-4, 0-1, 0-2)
Russia powered past Great Britain to maintain its winning start at the IIHF World Championship in Riga. Four goals in five first-period minutes settled the outcome as the Red Machine ensured that it did not join Canada and Sweden on the list of fallen giants in the opening weekend of the tournament.
“We’re seeing some shock results at this World Championship so we knew that against Britain we had to go out with total concentration and keep that up from the first minute to the last,” said Russia’s captain Anton Slepyshev.
“We managed to score quickly and we looked good in the first period, we overwhelmed the opposition. In the second, the British tried to cause us problems but we wanted to keep playing the right way. We needed to make sure we didn’t just win, but made progress ahead of the upcoming games.”
Anton Burdasov scored twice, Mikhail Grigorenko followed up Friday’s game-winner with another tally here and four players netted their first ever World Championship goals. Debutant goalie Ivan Bocharov, of Dynamo Moscow, faced just 11 shots and was beaten once by Britain’s brightest prospect Liam Kirk.
Photo: 22.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Great Britain - Russia
The game was decided by a devastating spell of Russian scoring. Burdasov broke the deadlock with a power play goal in the sixth minute then Grigorenko poached a short-handed tally. Britain was floundering as Burdasov added a third before Sergei Tolchinsky marked his first World Championship appearance with a breakaway goal. Russia had four goals from just six shots, three of them from a similar area in the right-hand face-off circle. However, Britain kept faith with goalie Jackson Whistle and was rewarded as he settled into the game and managed to slow Russia’s scoring.
There was even a moment for the underdog to cheer late in the first period when Kirk potted a well-worked power play goal, but there would be no prospect of a fightback. Russia continued to play highly professional, effective hockey, carving out chance after chance and ultimately firing in 42 shots at Whistle. There were three more goals. Pavel Karnaukhov potted a neat breakaway effort in the second period, Andrei Kuzmenko produced a wicked shot midway through the third then captain Slepyshev completed the scoring late on.
Head coach Valery Bragin was happy with his team’s work, notwithstanding the quality of the opposition. “I wanted to see a good start and we got that,” he said. "We scored some good goals.
“I wanted the players to keep doing the right things. That will bring its own rewards as we go on. We need to get away from any bad habits. A proper, aggressive game for Team Russia means top marks on defense, top marks on offense and no stupid mistakes.
“Today we got a chance to switch it up on the power play and try out a few ideas. It was a useful work-out for us and good preparation for our next games.”
Jokerit’s Jensen sinks Sweden
Denmark 4 Sweden 3 (0-0, 3-2, 1-1)
Nicklas Jensen was the star of the show as Denmark made history with its first ever World Championship victory over Sweden. The Jokerit forward scored three and created the other in his country’s 4-3 success and proclaimed it a ‘huge day’ for Danish hockey.
Photo: 22.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Sweden - Denmark
“It just shows for ourselves, and for everybody in the country, especially the young kids, that Denmark is only becoming better and better,” he said “That is awesome to see. Right now, we’re very proud of the game tonight.”
The Danes had the better of the first period, but could not score. Then Sweden, which included Klas Dahlbeck, Lawrence Pilut and Oscar Lindberg in the team, twice led in the second stanza before a spell of four-on-four hockey brought goals for Jensen and Emil Kristensen. Jensen extended the lead in the third before Sweden made it 3-4 and set up a tense finale.
“I was on the bench for the last 30 seconds and I could barely watch the game,” Jensen said. “I was just watching the clock ticking down and giving us the win. It’s an unbelievable feeling right now.”
Second loss for Czechs
Czech Republic 2 Switzerland 5 (1-1, 0-2, 1-2)
The Swiss — picked by many as a dark horse here — made a winning start to the tournament as the Czechs slipped to 0-and-2 with another defeat. After the heartbreak of allowing a last-minute goal against Russia yesterday, the Czech Republic opened the scoring after 14 minutes through Filip Chytil. But the Swiss tied it up late in the opening frame and jumped to a 3-1 lead in the third on goals from Timo Meier and Tristan Scherwey.
That brought an end to Simon Hrubec’s evening — he was replaced for the third period by Traktor’s Roman Will, who celebrates his 29th birthday today. Will was beaten when Meier got his second of the game and Jiri Smejkal’s goal, assisted by David Sklenicka, was rendered irrelevant by a power play goal from Gregory Hofmann to complete the Swiss win.
Former Metallurg forward Jan Kovar, who now plays in Switzerland, summed up his team’s evening. “The penalties made the difference,” he said. “We played a lot on the PK and that’s a mistake. It’s bad. Of course we wanted to win both games but lost. Now we have a chance to regroup before the next games.”
Group B
Kazakhstan returns with a win
Latvia 2 Kazakhstan 3 SO (0-0, 1-1, 1-1, 0-0, 0-1)
After stunning Canada on Friday, Latvia found itself bitten by an underdog in game two of the tournament. Newly-promoted Kazakhstan forced overtime in Riga and went on to grab a shoot-out victory. It’s the first time the Kazakhs have beaten Latvia in World Championship play.
Barys defenseman Jesse Blacker was happy to get back on the ice after several players had been inactive for up to three months.
“There was a lot of perseverance there,” he said. “In the first couple of periods we were just getting the legs going and getting the timing back. We made a mistake there in the second but were able to come back and we kept pushing the game and we ended up winning the shoot-out. It was a good team effort.”
This game was something of a KHL derby, with both countries drawing heavily on players from our league. For Kazakhstan, it was the first taste of top level World Championship action since 2016, while Latvia was looking to build on last night’s memorable 2-0 win over Canada.
The early stages were underpowered, with Latvia perhaps feeling the after effects of all the work — physical and emotional — needed to subdue the Canadians 24 hour earlier. As a result, the game went scoreless until midway through the second period when the home team went in front on only its sixth shot of the game. Lauris Darzins was the scorer, tucking home the rebound from a Kaspars Daugavins effort. However, late in the second stanza, Alexander Shin’s power play goal — his first at a World Championship on his third appearance at this level — tied the game.
Scoring chances were few and far between until a misjudged line change caused a defensive collapse for Kazakhstan. Rihards Bukarts was the player to take advantage, skating through and outwitting Nikita Boyarkin. But the lead lasted just 12 seconds. An icing — hotly disputed by the Latvian bench — brought a face-off in front of Matiss Kivlenieks and Viktor Svedberg’s shot caused panic on the Latvian crease before Jesse Blacker lifted the puck into the net.
The Kazakhs had more of the game, particular in the closing stages, but could not force victory in regulation. In the extras, Yury Mikhailis’ team dominated after getting on the power play but it took a shoot-out to separate the teams. Darren Dietz was close to winning it in the initial five rounds, but hit the post on the final attempt before sudden death. Then the goalies stepped up to blank four more efforts before Evgeny Rymarev got the winner.
Goalscorer Bukarts insisted that Latvia could not afford to rest on its laurels after beating Canada but had to look to maintaining that form throughout the tournament.
“It’s never nice to lose a game,” he said. "Canada’s in the past and we can’t focus on the past.
“We battled hard, in the shoot-out we were leading 3-1 but we couldn’t capitalize and get the win. We played a good game but it wasn’t enough. It’s always hard to lose at home but we will regroup and be better for the next one.”
Finns make winning start
Finland 2 USA 1 (0-0, 2-1, 0-0)
Second-period goals from Atte Ohtamaa and Iiro Pakarinen gave Finland a winning start to its World Championship defense. They tipped the balance in a even game, while the Finns were also grateful to Jussi Olkinuora in goal.
The opening goal took some time to come but in the 27th minute Ohtamaa launched a powerful shot that took a deflection of America’s Brian Boyle on its way into the net. Late in the frame, Pakarinen doubled the lead when he got to the rebound from a Ville Pokka effort and claimed the goal via a kind bounce off the goalie.
“It was kind of a mess in front of the net,” admitted the Jokerit forward. “I saw the puck was with our D-man and just tried to drive to the net. I saw the rebound coming there and it went off the goalie’s pad and in.”
Ohtamaa, who played last season with Lokomotiv, believes his team can repeat its 2019 title win. “Everybody was really excited today and a little bit nervous too,” he said. “But I think that’s a good thing. We should enjoy the moment here and enjoy every day with our team. I think we have a really good chance again this year.”
Finland’s next game is on Sunday against Kazakhstan.
The other Group B game saw Germany pick up another big win, defeating Norway 5-1 after thumping Italy 9-4 on Friday.
