But, to their credit, the Russians put in an accomplished, shutout performance against Finland to earn qualification. Team Russia’s Evgeny Kuznetsov (92) celebrates his goal against Team Canada with teammates Andrei Markov (79) and Evgeny Dadonov (63) during the second period of a World Cup of Hockey semifinal game, Saturday. And if they’re planning on taking this semifinal seriously, what better way to point at Canada menacingly from the entrance ramp than to get back that embarrassing loss from the Exhibition games. Not long after this save, Marchand came down and scored the goal that made it 3-2 and Canada was off to the races. And it can especially win if two things happen: Bobrovsky steals the game and Canada gets into penalty trouble, just as it did in the pre-tournament finale between both teams. An alert Carey Price covered up …
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I would love to see the U23/24 whatever team again next year, but probably not for the reasons of others.
Starting Bobrovsky – who finished the tournament with a.930 save percentage – was any easy decision for Russian coach Oleg Znarok to make at this event. I think that name amped it up more than World Cup but the NA under 24 team made it that much more interesting and yes it’s a gimmick but it’s a gimmick within a bigger gimmick. Russian Federation opened with a loss to Sweden and needed to beat Finland in their last group game to reach the semi-finals, but will not lack for motivation against Canada, who knocked them out of the quarter-finals of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and skated away with gold four years later in Sochi. The real defining factor of Russia’s play so far has been their youth stepping up and creating depth scoring from almost every line they’ve played so far in the tournament. “Tomorrow is a big one, and none of the [previous] games really matter”. Then, to secure their passage to the semi-finals, the Russians topped Team Finland in a 3-0 rout.
Datsyuk, 38, suffered a lower-body injury during Wednesday’s practice and exited the ice.
“Bergie and Marchie have that chemistry already, and obviously Sid’s a great player”, says Canada center Ryan Getzlaf.
Marchand gave Canada some breathing room 76 seconds into the third period when he took a pass from Crosby and beat Bobrovsky on the glove side for his second goal of the game.
Crosby now leads the World Cup with seven points in four games, doing so just three months after leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to their fourth Stanley Cup.
The lack of one or two key goal scorers in this tournament may well work to Russia’s advantage, with the opposition not knowing who to focus on.
Among the other national dishes offered at the Fan Village has Swedish meatballs with lingonberry sauce, Czech slanina (back bacon), Russian shashlik (meat on a stick) and pierogis and smoked Southern-style spare ribs with coleslaw, representing the United States.
It’s likely that Datsyuk has played his last game in North America since he will return and finish his career in the KHL.
Canada just outlasted Russian Federation in the final pre-tournament game with a 3-2 overtime win.
Russia, if the team wants to play in the finals, has to change its strategy to the game. The made up teams are as good as anyone but canada and sweden, so why replace them with punching bags like Switzerland?
Sweden’s defensive play and mobility from the blueline should give them a slight edge over Team Europe in this matchup.
But, as so often has been the case, when things looked questionable for Team Canada, the Crosby Show took over.
Though Canada entered the second period with a 1-0 lead, it could have been more. With every shift, play with tenacity and grit.
Unfortunately for the Russians, this may be the end of the road. But their 5-3 win over Team Russia in the semifinals came with a surprising amount of drama.
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And, it looked as if it might be that way even before the puck dropped.
