Kazakhs score 11, Russia wins again

A goal-crazy performance from Kazakhstan brought an 11-3 win over Italy to keep the country’s playoff hopes well and truly alive in Group B of the IIHF World Championship. And Russia continued its steady progress towards the knock-out rounds as Sergei Tolchinsky inspired a 4-1 win over Switzerland.

Group A

Tolchinsky stars for Russia

Switzerland 1 Russia 4 (0-0, 0-1, 1-3)

Sergei Tolchinsky led Russia to an important victory over Switzerland. The Avangard forward had two goals and an innovative assist in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie and set up a win that keeps the Red Machine motoring out in front in group A.

Photo: 29.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Switzerland - Russia

Tolchinsky’s most eye-catching play came on Russia’s second goal. Dumped to the ice by a challenge from a Swiss D-man, he managed to get his pass to the slot where Pavel Karnaukhov was on hand to restore the lead. Two minutes later, Tolchinsky scored his first goal of the afternoon and it was fitting that he ended proceedings with an empty-net goal.

“There wasn’t really much else I could do,” Tolchinsky said of his ‘seat-of-the-pants’ helper. “I knew that Pasha [Karnaukhov] was going to the slot and I managed to get the puck there. And Pasha skated well and got the shot off. It wasn’t really as special as you might think, I just swung my stick at the puck and that was it. Like I said, this was the only way I could get the puck to the slot.”

Earlier in the game the teams served up an entertaining, evenly-matched first period before Russia went ahead in the second thanks to Anton Burdasov’s power play goal. The Swiss tied it up after 48 minutes, but then Tolchinsky got to work. The Russian regained the lead after two minutes and made the game safe soon afterwards.

For head coach Valery Bragin, the key to the game was Russia’s hard-working defense: “We had a two-day break and it was difficult to get back up to speed, but the main things was blocking 30 shots. The total commitment and smart tactical play got us this result.”

Klok strikes again

Czech Republic 6 Great Britain 1 (1-0, 3-1, 2-0)

Neftekhimik’s new signing Lukas Klok potted his second goal in two games and Robin Hanzl had two assists as the Czechs put up a big victory against Great Britain.

Klok got the go-ahead goal in the first period as his team enjoyed plenty of offense against a hard-working but fast-tiring British team.

“The first goal is always important, it gives you a bit of calm,” said Klok. “But a 1-0 lead means nothing in hockey so we wanted to score more and get more calm. That’s how it happened in the second period.”

In the second period, the Czechs extended their lead with tallies from Filip Hronek, Libor Sulak and Filip Chytil but allowed yet another power play goal at the other end when Matthew Myers got one back for GB.

But there was no fightback from the Brits and Hanzl had a hand in third-period goals for Radan Lenc and a second of the game for Sulak.

Slovaks blank Denmark

Slovakia 2 Denmark 0 (0-0, 0-0, 2-0)

Russia’s stay as sole leader of the group was brief. Slovakia moved level on 12 points with a shut-out win over the Danes. Peter Cehlarik went to the top of the tournament scoring race when he scored the opening goal midway through the final frame, with an assist from Torpedo newcomer Marek Hrivik. Hrivik picked up a second helper as Adam Janosik made the game safe late on. Slovakia currently has the edge over Russia due to its head-to-head win when the teams met on Monday.

Group B

The great Kazakh goal rush

Italy 3 Kazakhstan 11 (0-1, 1-2, 2-8)

A storming third period saw Kazakhstan power to its biggest ever World Championship victory — and more importantly the three points mean that the Steppe Eagles are within touching distance of a place in the quarter-finals. Kazakhstan can seal its place with a result in its final group game, but even in the event of a loss against the Norwegians it might progress if other results go the right way.

Kazakhstan made a flying start, with Roman Starchenko opening the scoring after two minutes, but Italy tied it up early in the second thanks to Angelo Miceli. Yegor Petukhov and Evgeny Rymarev restored the Kazakh lead before the second intermission, but the game was very much alive going into the third. The teams traded goals within 12 seconds of each other and that sparked a blazing finale into life.

Three goals in three minutes from Curtis Valk and Artyom Likhotnikov (2) put Kazakhstan in control and after a consolation goal for the Italians, the closing stages brought four goals in six minutes to complete a crushing triumph. Starchenko led the team’s scoring with 5 (2+3) points on the night.

Forward Curtis Valk enjoyed the win — and the tournament as a whole. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, especially after playing yesterday,” he said. “But we found a good start and found our legs a bit to pull it away.”

“It feels good to be rewarded and see some guys scoring goals. We’re having a lot of fun. We came here with the attitude that we’re kind of the underdog and we come into every game trying to win.”

Finns stay out in front

Germany 1 Finland 2 (0-1, 1-0, 0-1)

Finland remains on top in Group B after a narrow verdict over Germany in the evening game. The defending champion has four wins from five games, with only a shoot-out defeat to Kazakhstan blotting an otherwise perfect record.

Photo: 29.05.21. 2021 IIHF World Championship. Germany - Finland

But it wasn’t an easy task to put away a resilient German team. The Finns had twice as many shots as the opposition, but had to wait until midway through the third period before claiming the winning goal. Arttu Ruotsalainen got the all-important tally on 51:26 off a fine assist from Anton Lundell after Iiro Pakarinen forced a turnover in centre ice. Earlier in the game, Lundell opened the scoring for the Finns, but Korbinian Holzer, who played last season with Avtomobilist, put Germany level in the second period.

“They put a lot of pressure on us all over the ice,” admitted Holzer. “I thought we adjusted to it in the second period and made better plays and playing in their zone more, but they play really strong around their net and play a tight neutral zone. It was tough to get in there with speed, and they protect their own zone really well. Overall, they played a hell of a game and made it hard on us to generate offence.”

Norway 1 USA 2 (0-1, 0-1, 1-0)

Team USA stays one point behind Finland in second place in Group B after handing Norway a defeat that ends its hopes of reaching the knock-out stages.

This wasn’t the best American performance of the tournament, but goals from Conor Garland and Tage Thompson were enough to open a decisive lead. Ken Andre Olimb pulled one back for the Norwegians, but it wasn’t enough.