🇷🇺 Russia 1-0 Sweden 🇸🇪
Channel One Cup
CSKA Arena, Moscow 🇷🇺
Thursday, 16 December 2021

In a tight, tense contest, Russia edged Sweden in the second match of the 2021 Channel One Cup, holding on to claim an important 1-0 victory at the CSKA Arena.

The Swedes had the better of the first period.

In truth, they should have struck gold in the first minute of proceedings, as Gustav Rydahl could only thump the puck against Ivan Fedotov’s body at point-blank range after our goalkeeper had mistakenly expected an icing call.

On an odd-man rush, Malte Strömwall later passed up a glorious opportunity for Sweden, blasting off target with only the goaltender to beat. At the other end, the Russians’ best spell of play was witnessed during an early powerplay, with Nikita Gusev and Sergei Plotnikov coming close from inviting positions. Fedotov was the busier goaltender in the opening frame as he was forced into 10 saves in comparison to Magnus Hellberg’s seven.

The manner of the game didn’t change in the second period.

Sweden continued to play on the front foot and create the majority of the opportunities. After defensive errors, Strömwall, Rydahl and Dmytro Timashov all had clear chances for the Swedes, but Fedotov came to the rescue for the hosts with a handful of difficult stops. Towards the end of a somewhat uneventful stanza, Russia were gifted a powerplay chance to begin generating attacking traction, however Hellberg calmly dealt with the challenge in the Swedish net.

The breakthrough was eventually made in the eighth minute of the third period.

On the counter-attack, Gusev picked out the onrushing Vyacheslav Voinov with an intelligent pass, who managed to carefully slide the puck over the line with Hellberg unable to freeze it.

The rest of the match predictably saw Sweden throw everything at the Russians. Nevertheless, despite pulling Hellberg for the extra skater with more than two minutes remaining in the frame and carving open a number of excellent chances, the away team simply couldn’t find that elusive equalizer with Fedotov in unbeatable form.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
00:28 – 🇸🇪 PEN – Larsson, tripping
04:43 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Plotnikov, tripping

2nd Period
35:15 – 🇸🇪 PEN – Almqvist, holding

3rd Period
47:54 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Voinov (Gusev, Tkachyov)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇷🇺 Fedotov (25-25)
L: 🇸🇪 Hellberg (34-35)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇷🇺 10+8+17 = 35
🇸🇪 7+9+9 = 25

ROSTERS
🇷🇺 Goaltenders: Ivan Fedotov, Alexander Samonov. Defence: Semyon Chistyakov, Nikita Nesterov, Alexander Nikishin, Damir Sharipzyanov, Vyacheslav Voinov, Yegor Yakovlev (C), Alexander Yelesin. Forwards: Andrei Chibisov, Artyom Galimov, Arseni Gritsyuk, Nikita Gusev, Pavel Karnaukhov, Artur Kayumov, Kirill Marchenko, Ivan Morozov, Sergei Plotnikov, Kirill Semyonov, Vadim Shipachyov, Vladimir A. Tkachyov, Sergei Tolchinski.
🇸🇪 Goaltenders: Magnus Hellberg, Adam Reideborn. Defence: Adam Almqvist, Lukas Bengtsson, Oscar Engsund, Julius Hultström, Lawrence Pilut, Jonathan Pudas. Forwards: Jacob de la Rose, Pontus Holmberg, Linus Johansson (C), Emil Larsson, Oscar Lindberg, Joakim Nygård, Fredrik Olofsson, Emil Pettersson, Gustav Rydahl, Malte Strömwall, Dmytro Timashov, Anton Wedin.

Article Credit: FHR
Photo Credit: FHR – IIHF – HHOF – IOC