Alex Ovechkin’s inclusion in the Russian squad didn’t help as they lost 3-2 against Czech Republic
Czech Republic came up with strong and dominating performance in its last game that saw it winning the game against Russia, despite opposite speculations hovering around, especially after the inclusion of Alex Ovechkin in the Russian squad.
However, Washington Capitals’ captain was unable to put in the game winning performance that was expected of him. In the end, the Czech’s emerged as 3-2 winners of the game to maintain the unbeaten run in the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
Ovechkin was included in the squad as the Russians looked to avenge their last year’s defeat at the hands of the Czechs that saw them winning by 2-1. However, this didn’t happen as the Czech’s came up with strong offence and defence.
"It was a tough game, to the last second", Czech forward, Martin Havlat, said.
Milan Michalek and defender, Karel Rachunek, were two players in the Czech team who weren’t seen in the team after they got hit badly during the second period of the game.
"It wasn't a pretty game", Jagr said. "There were a lot of penalties and power plays".
Alexei Tereschenko scored a superb goal for Russia to level the scores but Czech Republic was able to get back into the lead with a brilliant goal scored by Tomas Plekanec.
The Russians gave all that they had but they were unable to do anything about a game which was dictated by the opposing team. The Czechs were the dominating force in the game as they outshot the Russians, 33-26.
Things haven’t gotten better for Capitals’ captain as this loss comes after a heart-breaking 4-0 series loss to Tampa Bay Lightning in the semifinals of the playoffs.
On the other hand, Czech Republic occupies the top spot in its group with a game in hand. It will meet the fourth positioned team in Group F as the quarterfinals kick off.
Sunday also saw Mikael Backlund scoring a goal in the final period to guide Sweden to a 2-0 win over Switzerland. As a result, Sweden moved into the quarterfinals and the win proved to benefit USA as it too made its way into the quarterfinals.
The teams that went out of the tournament were Slovenia and Austria after their disappointing losses.
Slovenia lost its game by 7-1 against Belarus while Austria lost its game by 4-1 against Latvia.
Canada will face Sweden this Monday as it maintains a very good record in the tournament so far, 5-0. Canada will be hoping to follow on the same lines as its goalkeeper, James Reimer, made 25 saves during the last game.
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