World Championship. Latvia - Russia - 0:4

The Russian national team played their third match of the 2016 IIHF World Championship against Latvia. Head coach Oleg Znarok opted to keep Sergei Bobrovsky in net, while E         vgeny Dadonov was moved up to the first line with Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Mozyakin.

Given the fact that Victory Day celebrations were ongoing, Russia’s players were under real pressure to deliver, and you could feel the tension on the ice. The game began to open up during the second half of the opening period, and Latvian goaltender Elvis Merzlikins was being called into regular action. Russia were upping the tempo, and on two occasions Roman Lyubimov came close to scoring – alone on the crease the CSKA Moscow forward hacked over the bar, and later on he was denied by a flashy glove save. Latvia were mostly focused on defense, and they were outshot 7-13 in the frame.

Russia’s play deserved a goal, and at the start of the second period, Latvia’s goaltender was finally beaten – Artemiy Panarin took aim from the left faceoff circle, and he went five hole on Elvis Merzlikins. That goal was just what we needed, and midway through the stanza, we grabbed a second. Artemiy slid the puck back to the slot, Vadim Shipachyov found Evgeny Dadonov open, and the latter hit the empty net with ease. Our number 27 almost grabbed a third when clean through, however with five minutes left, defenseman Alexei Emelin was kicked out of the game for a dirty knee hit against Miks Indrasis. Latvia smelt blood, and had it not been for Sergei Bobrovsky, things could have turned very sour indeed. Twice Sergei made unbelievable saves at point blank range, and try as they might, the Latvians could not make their pressure tell during that time.

The Latvians had let their chance slip, and minutes into the third, we finished the match as a contest all together – wonderful play from Artemiy Panarin’s line found Vadim Shipachyov on the crease, and Vadim deftly flicked home. Our players were running riot in Latvia’s zone, and we thought that we had netted a fourth – Sergei Mozyakin scored when practically on the goal-line, but after video review, the referees ruled that a kicking motion had been used. Nevertheless, we kept on piling forward, and with time running down, we finally did get that fourth goal. Artemiy Panarin waited patiently on the left, and swept into the far corner with real aplomb. That sealed the deal, and with Sergei Bobrovsky keeping his shutout intact, Russia saw the game out to take a thumping 4:0 victory!

Match protocol:

Latvia – Russia – 0:4 (0:0, 0:2, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Panarin (Datsyuk), 20.29

0:2 Dadonov (Shipachyov, Panarin), 27.34

0:3 Shipachyov (Panarin, Dadonov), 47.02

0:4 Panarin (Chudinov, Shipachyov), 57.30

Goalkeepers: Merzlikins – Bobrovsky

Shots on target: 27 – 37

Penalty minutes: 8 – 35

09.05.2016. Ice Palace, Moscow.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation