2017 World Championship. Group stage. Italy - Russia - 1:10

In Cologne, the senior Russian national team took on Italy for the second 2017 IIHF World Championship group stage match. Head coach Oleg Znarok made only one change, promoting Alexander Barabanov to the first line in place of Sergei Plotnikov. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Frederic Cloutier were the starting goaltenders.

Overwhelming favourites for the game, Russia immediately set up camp inside Italy's zone. The Italians rarely spent time in the opposing end, struggling against Russia's strong firepower. Sergei Andronov broke the deadlock after ten minutes, deflecting Alexander Barabanov's effort past the netminder. With the frame coming to its end, our players scored a deserved second. Evgeny Dadonov got his name on the scoreboard, netting from the doorstep on the powerplay.

However, out of the blue, Italy cut the deficit in half four minutes into the second stanza. Tommaso Traversa scored their goal, lashing a loose puck over Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker. The Italians were growing in confidence, but Russia soon put paid to their comeback hopes. Nikita Kucherov and Vladislav Namestnikov scored quickfire goals, before Artemiy Panarin completed a beautiful play on the man's advantage to make it 5:1.

Italy continued fouling, gifting Russia more special teams chances. Predticably, our players put their opponents to the sword. Sergei Plotnikov, Sergei Mozyakin and Artemiy Panarin scored further powerplay goals, while Vladislav Namestnikov and Sergei Andronov completed a 10:1 rout at equal strength. Russia will now prepare to play hosts Germany tomorrow.

Match protocol:

Italy - Russia - 1:10 (0:2, 1:3, 0:5)

Goals:

0:1 Andronov (Barabanov, Gavrikov), 09.35

0:2 Dadonov (Panarin, Shipachyov), 18.59

1:2 Traversa (Bernard, Helfer), 23.40

1:3 Kucherov (Namestnikov, Gusev), 24.51

1:4 Namestnikov (Kucherov), 35.04

1:5 Panarin (Mozyakin, Shipachyov), 36.21

1:6 Plotnikov (Kucherov, Gusev), 43.39

1:7 Mozyakin (Shipachyov, Panarin), 45.29

1:8 Namestnikov (Kucherov, Gusev), 45.48

1:9 Panarin (Mozyakin, Shipachyov), 50.21

1:10 Andronov (Barabanov, Provorov), 58.54

Goalkeepers: Cloutier - Vasilevskiy/Sorokin

Shots on target: 15 - 36 

Penalty minutes: 12 - 6 

07.05.2017. Cologne, Germany.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation