2017 World Championship. Group stage. Germany - Russia - 3:6

In Cologne, the senior Russian national team took on 2017 World Championship hosts Germany for the third group stage match. Following the huge 10:1 victory against Italy yesterday, head coach Oleg Znarok didn't make any changes to the line-up. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Thomas Greiss were the starting goaltenders.

Fired up for this one, Russia made an ideal start. Just a minute in, Evgeny Dadonov's clever pass to the doorstep was given the perfect finish by Vadim Shipachyov. Full of confidence, our players continued piling the pressure on, earning a five minute powerplay when Germany's Patrick Hager received a 5+20 penalty for interference against Sergei Mozyakin. To our delight, the team made full use of that opportunity. Vadim Shipachyov netted his second on the right faceoff circle, before Ivan Provorov's wrister was deflected home by Sergei Plotnikov.

In complete control, the players put the game to bed in the second stanza. Russia made it 4:0 with another man's advantage, as Nikita Gusev slotted into the gaping net after Artemiy Panarin cleverly picked him out. Not long after that, the fifth goal was scored. Nikita Kucherov was the hero, expertly backhanding over Thomas Greiss' glove when clean through.

However, against the run of play, Germany mounted an unlikely third period comeback. Brooks Macer runied Andrei Vasilevskiy's shutout hopes, knocking a juicy rebound over the line. Russia then took two quickfire penalties, allowing Philip Gogulla to cut the deficit to three with a tip in. Nevertheless, the Germans' bubble was burst when Nikita Kucherov notched his second goal at point blank range. Frederik Tiffels beat Andrei Vasilevskiy for a third German goal in the dying moments, but it made no difference as Russia hung on to claim a 6:3 victory over Germany!

Match protocol:

Germany - Russia - 3:6 (0:3, 0:2, 3:1)

Goals:

0:1 Shipachyov (Dadonov, Panarin), 01.04

0:2 Shipachyov (Gusev, Panarin), 17.10

0:3 Plotnikov (Provorov, Antipin), 18.15

0:4 Gusev (Panarin, Belov), 31.10

0:5 Kucherov, 35.16

1:5 Macek (Muller, Seidenberg), 45.53

2:5 Gogulla (Ehrhoff, Kahun), 48.34

2:6 Kucherov (Panarin), 51.40

3:6 Tiffels (Kink, Seidenberg), 59.10

Goalkeepers: Greiss - Vasilevskiy

Shots on target: 29 - 35 

Penalty minutes: 29 - 12 

08.05.2017. Cologne, Germany.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation