Russia Blitzes USA to Win Bronze

In the bronze medal game played at the Ice Palace in Moscow, the host team was able to salvage their tournament and medal with conviction.

Russia beat Team USA 7-2 in a total dismantling of John Hynes’ team. However, current members of the New Jersey Devils roster were all over the scoresheet. For good and bad.

Russia jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the first period had ended. Vyacheslav Voinov scored at 6:23 (assists to Sergei Kalinin and Sergei Shirokov). Then, at 13:02, Steve Santini took a hooking call that led directly to a Russian power play goal scored by Sergei Mozyakin (assists to Pavel Datsyuk and Dmitri Orlov).

Russia would quickly double their lead in the second period. First, Ivan Telegin scored from Datsyuk and Mozyakin at 9:36 into the second frame. It was now 3-0 Russia. The Russians struck just over three minutes later when Yevgeni Dadonov made it 4-0 from Artemi Panarin and Vadim Shipachyov.

When Alexei Marchenko was nabbed for slashing at 13:55, that set up a US power play that they would capitalize on. Frank Vatrano scored with about 30 seconds left on the man advantage. David Warsofsky and Brock Nelson had the assists. It was now 4-1 and the US seemed to have regained some momentum.

But the Russians took that momentum right back less than a minute later when Panarin scored at 15:22 from Anton Belov and Maxim Chudinov.

Russia would go on the penalty kill when Kalinin would take a kneeing penalty midway through the second, but the US was not able to convert on that power play.

The third period started with Keith Kinkaid being benched in favor of Mike Condon and the goalie change seemed to spark the team right away. Just under four minutes into the third, Vatrano scored his second of the game with Warsofsky getting the lone assist. It was Warsofsky’s second point of the night as well. Now it was 5-2, Russia.

Russia answered back, though, when Mozyakin scored ten minutes later. It was his second goal of the game with the assist to Datsyuk. The score stood at 6-2 and the Russians were not done yet.

With just under a minute left in the game, the US took a bench minor for too many men on the ice and with less than ten seconds remaining in the game, the Russians iced it to make it 7-2. The goal came off the stick of Shipachyov from Dadonov and Panarin.

And that was all she wrote. Stat lines for Devils participating in the game include: Kalinin with the assist, two penalty minutes, one shot, a plus-1 rating all in 11:49 of ice time. For the US, Santini had two penalty minutes in 5:07 of ice time; Miles Wood had a shot on goal and was a minus-1 in 10:49 of ice time; David Warsofsky had two assists, two shots on goal and was a plus-1 in 13:55 of ice time.

In goal, Kinkaid and Condon saw 29 shots and made 22 saves, while Sergei Bobrovsky saw 30 shots and made 28 saves.

Although they did not medal, the US had a pretty strong tournament. Their preliminary round was not the strongest, but beating the Czechs and even getting into a position to medal could classify John Hynes’ World Championship debut as a bit of a success. Congratulations to Russia on medaling and we will find out later today who claims gold between Canada and Finland.

On another note, I got a chance to see the goal John Quenneville scored last night in the Wheat Kings’ Memorial Cup opener. It has to be seen to be believed. So here’s the link: Quenneville scores amazing goal at Memorial Cup Enjoy!

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