Russia remains unbeaten with OT win, Slovakia stays close again

Although the semi-finalists were already known before this game, there was not any lack of attractive chances from the very beginning. Just 91 seconds into the game the Russians went two-on-zero agains the goalie, but Vasily Ponomarev’s finish flew just be the Slovakian left post. And this Russian forward was again one of the main pieces in a red-puzzle six minutes later, this time he took the role of the passer when he sauced a nice one right at the blade of Shakir Mukhamadullin, however, he missed the wide-open net from only seven feet from it.

The Red Machine really proved that this nickname is more than accurate as they were basically the only shooting team, although they were lacking decisive enough final part. The Slovaks did accept their role, and mostly focused on defending determined Russians which they did very successfully, the score was not to change. As the energy was depleting, both teams started to make more and more mistakes in their combinations which in combination with very precise goaltenders on both sides resulted in a serious lack of any goal-scoring chances until the first horn went on.

The middle period did not offer as many scoring chances as its predecessor, although both teams tried their best when getting to the opponent’s goal. A bit more success had the Slovaks and especially Martin Chromiak who was the main offensive engine of his team. The hosts got a nice chance to change the two zeros displayed on the scoring board when the Russians went short-handed, but the East-Europeans closed the gate to their goalie very well. However, just after this power-play ended, Jakub Kolenic got arguably the closest so far to netting one in as he shot a quickie from the right circle which got stopped by the edge of Maxim Motorygin’s shoulder. The Slovaks forced their opponents into making mistakes resulting into penalties, therefore they got two more man-advantages in the next few minutes, nevertheless, they were not able to beat the red wall in either of them.

The Russians could experience playing with one man up for the first time in this period five minutes before the end of it, and had a nice shot at punishing the Slovaks, but Simon Opatovsky showed an exceptional anticipation when he moved through the crease quickly enough to stop Marat Khusnutdinov’s one timer. However, Slovakia committed another mistake just few seconds after, and this time the Red Machine got its revenge. 40 seconds before the teams went back into the locker rooms Khusnutdinov’s shot was deflected by the Slovakian goalie right at the stick of Nikita Buruyanov who had no troubles with hitting the open-net and finally opening the scoring sheet of the match.

But the Russian lead did not last long, in the second minute of the third period the visitors made a foul, and just before the following power-play has ended, Oliver Fatul showed his will when he made his way through the opposing defense and tied the game up. Despite the effort from both sides, neither Slovaks nor Russians were able to avoid mistakes in their game which led into not as attractive hockey as the fans would like. Russia was clearly aware of its good position – they could not finish anything else but first – as same as the Slovaks whose hopes to advance vanished before the game started, yet both teams were playing smart.

The first big opportunity since the Russians made the game even came in the 53rd minute when Slovakia went into three-on-two breakaway, however, Lukas Lipiansky who tried to finish this chance could not control the puck as well as needed and missed the net. Just a minute later the visitors came really close to grasping all three point, but Simon Opatovsky made a huge save against Vasily Ponomarev who tried to beat the Slovakian goalie from the slot. The end of regulation was mostly under Russian control, nevertheless, no more goals were scored, therefore the game went into the overtime.

This meant the Slovaks lost their chances to move to the third place for good as they needed all three point against Russia to do so. The East-Europeans were clearly dominant in the sudden-death, Alexander Pashin’s shot from up close did not beat Opatovsky, however, just after the half of the overtime Bogdan Trineyev surprised the Slovakian goalie with a quick wrist shot, and brought the bonus point into red hands.