The shocks continue ...
The 2021 IIHF World Championship continues, and so do the surprises. Belarus defeated Sweden for the first time in World Championship play while Kazakhstan stunned defending champion Finland in a shoot-out. It all adds up to Kazakhstan with two wins from two in Group B, while Canada has two losses from two games, and fewer goals than Great Britain.
Group A
Belarus stuns Sweden
Belarus 1 Sweden 0 (0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Dinamo Minsk goalie Danny Taylor pulled off a shut-out in his first World Championship start to backstop Belarus to a famous victory. He made 32 saves as German Nesterov’s goal secured a memorable win.
Sweden won all eight previous meetings between the countries at the Worlds but, after a shock defeat against Denmark yesterday the Tre Kronor stumbled again here. Battling Belarusian defense kept the game scoreless through two periods, then Nesterov, who plays in the Belarusian league for HK Gomel, grabbed the winner 33 seconds into the third.
At the other end, Taylor paid tribute to his colleagues for their efforts. “It’s huge. We had a disappointing loss in the other game and we were just trying to get back to what makes us a good team,” he said.
“The guys did a great job in front of me today. I was just trying to stop the next puck. It’s nice when things work out like this because it doesn’t always happen that way. I’m just going to enjoy today and tonight.”
There was one sour note for Belarus, with defenseman Evgeny Lisovets stretchered off the ice in the first period after colliding with Carl Klingberg. He was taken to hospital and the team is awaiting an update on his condition.
Great Britain 1 Slovakia 2 (0-1, 1-1, 0-1)
Torpedo’s new signing Marek Hrivik got the opening goal 25 seconds into this game, but Slovakia had a tough afternoon against a battling British team. Goalie Ben Bowns made 41 saves and Liam Kirk scored his second of the championship for GB, but it wasn’t quite enough to secure a shock win.
Slovakia, which plays Russia on Monday, lost goalie Branislav Konrad due to injury after the first period. He’s a doubt for the next game, which could put former Spartak man Julius Hudacek in the team against Valery Bragin’s team.
Denmark 0 Switzerland 1 (0-1, 0-0, 0-0)
Switzerland secured its second victory with a single-goal success over Denmark. Timo Meier potted the decisive goal in the 14th minute, moving to three for the championship. Switzerland, Slovakia and Russia are locked on two wins apiece at the top of Group A.
Group B
Second shoot-out win for Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan 2 Finland 1 SO (0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-0)
Kazakhstan is the king of the shoot-outs after sealing a second victory in post-game just 24 hours after stopping Latvia. This time, the victim was defending champion Finland, which failed to build on an opening win over the USA as a raft of unexpected results blows Group B wide open.
Photo: 23.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Kazakhstan - Finland
It took some time to open the scoring, but Anton Lundell put Finland up midway through the second period. The lead was short-lived, with Nikita Mikhailis setting up Kirill Panyukov for a tying goal on 35:56. And that was the end of the scoring until the shoot-out, with Kazakh goalie Nikita Boyarkin again earning rave reviews after a huge performance.
He stopped 50 shots through 65 minutes of play, and then steered his team through the shoot-out. Avangard’s Oliwer Kaski found a way past Boyarkin, but he denied Teemu Turunen, Arttu Ruotaslainen and Jere Karjalainen as Kazakhstan took the win. Curtis Valk, Roman Starchenko and Mikhailis were all on target for the Kazakhs in the shoot-out.
Goalscorer Panyukov, who recently secured a move to Ak Bars, hopes that this is only the start for the Kazakhs on their return to the Elite pool.
“It’s a big win and a very emotional one,” he said. “We believed in each other and the coaching staff helped everyone to play our best. It was a big moment and I believe we will have many more big moments in this tournament.
“[Nikita] played amazing and saved us so many times. There were lots of chances where Finland almost scored but thanks to his saves we still believed and it inspired us to play better right to the end.”
Canada 1 USA 5 (0-1, 0-3, 1-1)
Canada’s problems at this championship continue after suffering a second successive loss. Worse still, after Latvia shut out the Canadians in game one, Gerard Gallant’s team is still awaiting its first goal of the competition. Continuing the theme of World Championship firsts, the Canadians have never previously failed to win in their first two games at any previous tournament.
Photo: 23.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Canada - USA
The Americans recovered after losing the first game to Finland. Two goals from Trevor Moore, plus a goal and an assist for Jason Robertson, paced the win. And that all happened after starting goalie Anthony Stolarz left the game injured in the fifth minute with the scoresheet still blank. Incoming netminder Jake Oettinger was beaten by Max Comtois midway through the third as Canada opened its goal account for the competition at last.
The first game of the day saw Norway get a comfortable 4-1 win over Italy.
