๐ท๐บ Russiaย 7-0ย Austria ๐ฆ๐น
World Championship Preliminary Round
Royal Arena, Copenhagen ๐ฉ๐ฐ
Sunday, 06 May 2018
Russia roared to another convincing victory against one of the outsiders at this championship, following up its 7-0 win over France with a similar scoreline against Austria.
Mikhail Grigorenko led the way with two goals, Kirill Kaprizov and Artyom Anisimov both contributed 1+1 and there were further markers from Alexander Barabanov, Maxim Mamin and Ilya Mikheyev as the Russians produced another impressive attacking display.
Austria had never beaten Russia in World Championship play, and the seven games between the two since the break-up of the USSR produced a 41-13 goal differential in favour of the Russians. There was little expectation of the Alpine nation improving on that record here, particularly in the absence of goalie Bernhard Starkbaum, so impressive against Switzerland 24 hours earlier. Although that battling overtime loss against Switzerland yesterday gave Austria hope of surviving in this division, Russiaโs comprehensive 7-0 thrashing of France set a daunting standard for the newly-promoted team to reach.
However, there were encouraging moments for Roger Baderโs team in the early stages of the game. Prior to the opening goal, the action was fairly even. Russiaโs offence displayed greater variety and sophistication but Austria still managed to raise a scare when Markus Schlacherโs shot was blocked by Vasili Koshechkin and Fabio Hofer was sniffing around the rebound before the Russian D intervened.
“They caused us problems at the start,” Anisimov said after the game. “At the beginning they played some nice stuff and we couldn’t get out of our zone. Then we got a couple of quick goals and we changed the pattern of the game. After that we could play more on offence.”
That was the last real chance for the outsider, though. A breakdown on the Austrian offence saw Grigorenko steal the puck in his own zone and burst through centre ice. Defenceman Stefan Ulmer tracked the rush but ended up serving as an unwitting screen as the CSKA forward fired the puck below David Madlenerโs glove to open the scoring in the 10th minute.
Against the French, Russia opened the scoring midway through the opening frame and quickly jumped into a 3-0 lead. Here, recent history repeated itself. Anisimov, one of just two players to skate for Russia when the countries last met in 2013, soon added a second when he gobbled up the rebound after Pavel Buchnevich got up close with Madlener. Now the Russians could relax into their natural game: a fine passage of tic-tac-toe drew an appreciative reaction from the FHRโs vice-president Roman Rotenberg as the bemused Austrians looked on.
That chance went begging as Kaprizov shot wide, but it wasnโt long before the executives were celebrating number three as Barabanov delivered an emphatic finish off Mikheyevโs feed. His assist was the first World Championship point for the Avangard Omsk forward and his first goal would arrive before the end of the game.
The middle frame continued in similar vein, with Russiaโs scalpel-sharp offence finding more ways to open up a hard-pressed Austrian defence. Grigorenko got his second of the game early in the session, deceiving Madlener after Anisimovโs movement pulled Austriaโs back line out of position.
Next came the goal of the game as Pavel Datsyuk produced another one of those little bits of magic. Even at 39, Russiaโs captain still has all the moves and he showed them off here to dance past two defencemen before presenting Kaprizov with a gift-wrapped opportunity to fire the puck into an empty net. The young forwardโs appreciative grin was laced with disbelief at yet another memorable moment from the “Magic Man.”
There was another special moment to come late in the frame when Mamin got his first World Championship goal. The Florida Panthers prospect was released into the end zone by Kaprizovโs long pass and he proved too strong for Clemens Unterweger before finishing the play.
For Austria’s Brian Lebler, it was all something of an educational experience.
“Theyโre a good team. For us, itโs exciting to play against guys of that calibre and see what it takes to be the best in the world,” he said. “Itโs a good learning experience. Obviously weโd like to keep it a little bit closer. But at the end of the day, it was fun out there and I think we learned a little bit too.”
Russia replaced goalie Koshechkin at the second intermission โ the Metallurg Magnitogorsk netminder has now gone 100 minutes without allowing a goal here in Copenhagen โ and gave SKAโs Igor Shestyorkin a taste of action. Shestyorkin, Russiaโs unused third choice goalie at the Olympics in February, saw his first World Championship action after making the roster in the previous two tournaments.
Shestyorkin successfully kept the Austrians at bay in his 20-minute cameo, ensuring Russia has yet to concede in two games here. He was also on the ice to see Mikheyev bag his first goal at this level in the 54th minute. The Avangard man pounced on a loose puck in centre ice and streaked past the unfortunate Unterwegger before flipping the puck past Madlener.
“It was a memorable moment for me,” he said. “We got the puck and I was able to get in front of my opponent. There’s a different feeling, playing at my first World Championship, but I faced tougher opponents during the Eurotour.
“We have our tasks here and we need to carry them out. Against France we were poor in the second period, today there were no long passages where we played badly.”
BOXSCORE
1st Period
09:34 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Grigorenko
11:42 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Anisimov (Buchnevich)
13:19 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Barabanov (Mikheyev, Yakovlev)
2nd Period
23:52 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Grigorenko (Anisimov)
29:07 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Kaprizov (Datsyuk, Dadonov)
30:21 – ๐ท๐บย PEN – Nesterov, slashing
37:58 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Mamin (Kaprizov)
3rd Period
46:08 – ๐ฆ๐นย PEN – Lebler, high sticking
53:55 – ๐ท๐บย GOAL – Mikheyev
GOALTENDERS
W: ๐ท๐บย Koshechkin (14-14), Shestyorkin (4-4)
L: ๐ฆ๐นย Madlener (34-41)
SHOTS ON GOAL
๐ท๐บ 17+10+14 = 41
๐ฆ๐น 7+7+4 = 18
ROSTERS
๐ท๐บ Goaltenders: Vasili Koshechkin, Igor Shestyorkin.ย Defence: Vladislav Gavrikov, Dinar Khafizullin, Bogdan Kiselevich, Nikita Nesterov, Niktia Tryamkin, Yegor Yakovlev, Nikita Zaitsev.ย Forwards: Sergei Andronov (A), Artyom Anisimov, Alexander Barabanov, Pavel Buchnevich, Yevgeni Dadonov (A), Pavel Datsyuk (C), Mikhail Grigorenko, Ilya Kablukov, Kirill Kaprizov, Maxim Mamin, Ilya Mikheyev, Maxim Shalunov.
๐ฆ๐น Goaltenders: David Kickert, David Madlener.ย Defence: Mario Altmann, Dominique Heinrich, Patrick Peter, Markus Schlacher, Martin Schumnig, Stefan Ulmer, Clemens Unterweger, Layne Viveiros.ย Forwards: Manuel Ganahl (A), Fabio Hofer, Thomas Hundertpfund (C), Konstantin Komarek, Brian Lebler (A), Patrick Obrist, Alexander Rauchenwald, Peter Schneider, Patrick Spannring, Daniel Woger, Dominic Zwerger.
๐ท๐บ RUSSIA (C) | vs. | AUSTRIA ๐ฆ๐น |
current champion (since 04 May 2018) |
Last Title | 02 Feb 1931 |
445 | All-Time Wins |
2 |
4 wins | Head-To-Head |
0 wins |
First IHLC Meeting (RUS vs. AUT) ๐ท๐บ URS 22-1 AUT ๐ฆ๐น โ 27 Feb 1957 โ WC โ Moscow ๐ท๐บ |
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Previous IHLC Meeting (RUS vs. AUT) ๐ท๐บ RUS 4-2 AUT ๐ฆ๐น โ 19 Apr 1993 โ WC โ Munich ๐ฉ๐ช |
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Last IHLC Game ๐ท๐บย RUS 7-0 FRA ๐ซ๐ท โ 04 May 2018 โ WC โ Copenhagen ๐ฉ๐ฐ |
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Next IHLC Game ๐ท๐บย RUS 6-0 BLR ๐ง๐พ โ 07 May 2018 โ WC โ Copenhagen ๐ฉ๐ฐ |
Article Credit:ย IIHF Worlds 2018
Photo Credit: IIHF Worlds 2018 –ย IIHF – HHOF – IOC