After three victories in the opening matches at the 2019 Ice Hockey World Championship, the Russian national team in the fourth round of the preliminary stage of the Bratislava group was opposed by the Italian national team. Before the start of the meeting, the Russians were considered unconditional favorites, because the level of hockey in Russia and Italy differs significantly.
Before the match with the Russian national ice hockey team, some Italian players admitted that a 1: 5 defeat would be acceptable for their national team. Of course, Italian athletes went to the site as notorious outsiders, but hockey is an unpredictable sport, so our opponents still did not give up hopes of replenishing their points supply.
The Russians started the match actively. Already after 31 seconds Nikita Zaitsev hit the gate of the Italians with his throw. After winning a throw-in in a foreign zone, Nikita Gusev drew an excellent pass to the Toronto defender, after which the score was opened on the scoreboard.
The second goal in the match was again scored by the Russian defense team. This time Dinar Khafizullin on the 9th minute after the passes of Gusev and Kucherov hit the Italian goal. After two conceded washers, the Italian national team had their own moment, but the puck after the throw of Mike Rose hit the post of Andrei Vasilevsky.
In the second half of the first period, the audience saw two more goals performed by the Russians. This time, the Washington Capitals team scored. First, Evgeny Kuznetsov opened the scoring for his goals in the tournament after Alexander Barabanov's pass from the goal in the 14th minute, and Alexander Ovechkin scored three minutes before the end of the period. The final score after the first twenty minutes is 4: 0 in favor of the Russian national team.
In the second period, Ilya Vorobyov's charges continued to defeat the Italian national team. It took less than thirty seconds in the second game segment for the score to become 5: 0. Evgeny Kuznetsov ran away one-on-one with the goalkeeper and accurately sent a shell between the goalkeeper's shields. At the 7th minute, the center-forward of "Washington" acted as an assistant, making a transfer to the captain of our national team. Ilya Kovalchuk skillfully took advantage of Kuznetsov's pass, hitting the goal of the Italian national team for the sixth time.
The Russian national team scored the next goal in the majority. Evgeny Dadonov distinguished himself with the transfer of Nikita Kucherov. This goal was the fifth in the tournament for the Florida Panthers forward. According to this indicator, Dadonov is included in the list of the best snipers of the entire championship.
The Russian national team is still playing in unequal compositions at this tournament. The majority is realized, in the minority, the domestic team does not miss. In addition, the Italians were thrown by the Russians in a game of four. Mikhail Grigorenko scored in the minority in the 17th minute of the period.
Sirena for the break announced the end of the second period with a total score of 8: 0 in favor of the Russian national team.
The main intrigue of the final segment of the match was whether the Russian national team would be able to score ten goals, and the Italians at least one. The Russians coped with their task. In the fifth minute of the period, Nikita Kucherov scored the ninth goal of the game with a long throw, and a minute later Evgeny Dadonov made a personal double in the match and brought the score to an indecent. The Italians were close to their task, but at the moment when the Russian goalkeeper could not help his team, the national team was saved by the crossbar.
The final score of the match Russia - Italy 10: 0. This victory was the largest for the Russian national team since the performance of the Russian team at the World Ice Hockey Championships.
