The junior national team have qualified for the WJC quarter-finals

The junior Russian national team played their third match of the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship. Following yesterday’s big win over tournament hosts Finland head coach Valery Bragin made only one squad change, with Ilya Samsonov taking over from Alexander Georgiev.

Despite their underdog status Belarus made the better start in Helsinki, and forced Russia into taking an early penalty. That gave them the ideal opportunity to put on the pressure, and they should really have taken the lead. The Belarussians spread the puck to the left, they had an open net to aim at, but with Ilya Samsonov beaten they hit the near post. That miss took the wind out of their sails, and on a powerplay of their own Russia made the breakthrough. Patient build up play teed up Maxim Lazarev on the left faceoff circle, and he made no mistake. Russia took confidence from that goal, and managed to hit the target twice more in the frame. On a second man’s advantage Alexander Polunin thrashed in from the doorstep, and then Vladislav Kamenev expertly tipped in Ivan Provorov’s wrister.

Russia entered the second period in complete control, and carried on in the same vein. Belarus were being trapped inside their own zone for long periods, and their goaltender was a busy man. Alexander Polunin was shut down at close range, and Vladislav Kamenev had a one timer pushed away by the pads. Defenceman Ivan Provorov came the closest to a fourth, but after he had a wraparound marker waved off for goaltender interference, he failed to score with the backhand when one on one. The Belorussians resorted to fleeting counterattacks, and our netminder Ilya Samsonov was rarely troubled.

The third period didn’t see much change, as Russia were comfortably keeping their opponents at bay. The majority of the goalscoring chances were still coming at Belarus’ net, and Maxim Lazarev somehow couldn’t make it four with the puck lying still on the goal line. That miss proved to be important, as in the next attack Belarus got on the board. With the puck behind Russia’s net Alexei Patsenkin twisted sharply to the right post, and he forced his attempt over the line. Nevertheless Russia were intent on having the final word, and Alexander Polunin sealed it with an unstoppable wrister into the right corner. 4:1, and Russia take their third victory at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Championship!

Match protocol:

Belarus – Russia – 1:4 (0:3, 0:0, 1:1)

Goals:

First period:

0:1 Lazarev (Kamenev, Kaprizov), 10.00

0:2 Polunin (Kraskovsky, Korshkov), 15.42

0:3 Kamenev (Provorov, Lazarev), 18.19

Second period:

Third period:

1:3 Patsenkin (Busko), 46.14

1:4 Polunin (Korshkov, Zhuldikov), 47.41

Goalkeepers: Verbitski – Samsonov

Shots on target: 18 – 32

Penalty minutes: 6 – 6

29.12.2015. Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland. 

Russian Ice Hockey Federation