2020 Channel One Cup. Russia - Czech Republic

The senior Russian national team will face the Czech Republic on December 19 at the Legends Park in the second match of the Channel One Cup, the second stage of the 2020/2021 Euro Hockey Tour.

On Thursday, Russia managed to defeat Sweden on penalty shots, with Nikita Soshnikov and Andrei Kuzmenko scoring in the shootout to secure a dramatic 4:3 triumph. Incidentally, Kuzmenko and Soshnikov also hit the target during regulation time, while the third goal was tallied by Vadim Shipachyov on the powerplay. Goalkeeper Alexander Samonov stopped 18 of the 21 Swedish shots he faced.

For their part, the Czechs came up short against Finland earlier on the same day, going down 3:4 with Lukas Jasek, Dominik Lakatos and Dmitrij Jaskin of Dynamo Moscow all tallying markers. Dinamo Minsk goaltender Dominik Furch made 22 saves for his team.

"In comparison to the match against Sweden, the game with the Czech Republic will be different, as they like to make more combination plays," stated forward Anton Burdasov after yesterday's training session. "We'll analyse the video footage, correct our mistakes and see how we can play better than with the Swedish team."

The match is scheduled to begin at 15:30 local time in Moscow. Channel One will provide a live television broadcast in Russia, whereas you can follow text updates worldwide on our official Twitter account.