In the final match of the group stage at the World Ice Hockey Championship, held in Slovakia, the Russian national team was opposed by one of the main favorites of the entire tournament - the team of Sweden. The final distribution of places in the upper part of the table of group B depended on the result of this game.
Before the final match in Group B, the Russian national ice hockey team at the 2019 World Cup took first place. The last rivals of the Russians in the group stage were hockey players from Sweden. This Scandinavian team brought many of its stars to the tournament. Therefore, the monitored game seemed to be one of the most intriguing in the tournament in the framework of the preliminary stage.
The game began with a mutual desire between the teams for possession of the puck. In the first five minutes of the meeting, the audience did not see any scoring chances. The Swedish national team more often attacked positionally. The Russians tried to counterattack. On the 8th minute the score changed. The activity of Scandinavian hockey players in the foreign zone led to an abandoned puck. Markus Petterson's shot from the blue line hit the captain of the Colarodo Avalanche, Gabriel Landeskog. From the star center forward of the Swedes, the shell ricocheted into the gates of Andrei Vasilevsky. Sweden took the lead 1: 0.
After the missed puck, the Russians tried to play more actively in a foreign zone, but this did not lead to dangerous moments at the Markstrem goal, but to the removal of Sergei Andronov. Forward CSKA in a foreign zone hooked an opponent with a stick and got a well-deserved two minutes. The Russians played exemplarily in the minority, not allowing the Swedes to increase the score.
A few minutes later, Kirill Kaprizov received a fine. The Russians again earned two minutes of play in unequal compositions in the attacking zone. Scandinavian hockey players created tension at the Vasilevsky goal, but the Tampa Bay goalkeeper, with the help of defense, did not allow a second goal.
The first period ended with the score 1: 0 in favor of Sweden. Scandinavian hockey players looked better in the first twenty minutes of the game, more often shot at goal and had a territorial and playing advantage.
In the second period, the game changed dramatically. The Russian national team evened the score in the first minute. The three Gusev - Anisimov - Kucherov made a perfect attack with their passes, after which the Chicago forward leveled the score. The second goal against the Swedes was organized by the Russians after 4 minutes. The throw of Mikhail Sergachev from the blue line was closed by Evgeny Dadonov, who managed to substitute the club in the fall and change the direction of the puck's flight. For the Florida Panthers striker, this goal was already the seventh in the tournament.
At the 9th minute, the two main stars of Russian hockey of the last decade played a cool combination. Evgeny Malkin gave an assist to Alexander Ovechkin, after which the Washington forward forced Yakub Markstrem to surrender for the third time.
The Russian national team continued to tear apart the Swedish defense. At the 15th minute, Kirill Kaprizov scored his first goal at the 2019 World Cup, who threw right after the throw-in won by Kuznetsov. 4: 1 in favor of the Russian national team. Perhaps this goal finally broke the Swedes. Until the end of the period, the Scandinavians conceded twice more, and within one minute. First, Mikhail Grigorenko scored, and then the Pittsburgh forward Yevgeny Malkin. The final score of the match after two periods is 6: 1 in favor of the Russian national team.
In the final period, the audience saw four more goals. Three of them were organized by Swedish hockey players. On the 13th minute, William Newlander closed the gap, making the score 6: 2. It took the Russians less than a minute to answer. Dmitry Orlov responded with his scored puck. After that, it became finally clear that the winner of the meeting would be the Russian team. Perhaps this relaxed domestic hockey players. Ilya Vorobyov's charges conceded twice more in the last three minutes. The Swedish defenders Ekman-Larson and Klingberg distinguished themselves.
The final score of the meeting is 7: 4 in favor of the Russian national team. This result allowed our team to confidently win Group B. The Russians' rivals in the quarterfinals will be the US national team.
