Hosts Russia avenge their defeat to go level 1-1 with Team Canada in Russia-Canada Challenge
Russian Junior Ice-Hockey team fought back and took a revenge of their defeat against Team Canada in a series being played between junior sides of both the countries.
On Thursday, Canada had won a tight battle between both teams and managed to beat hosts 3-2 at Arena 2000 in Yaroslavl, Russia. But playing at the same place on Friday, hosts stepped up and stopped Canada from securing the four match series.
Just like Thursday, both of the teams were unable to break the deadlock in the first period and even though both teams tried their best to sneak through the defences of their opponents, both could not get success and it remained 0-0 at the end of first period.
Russia took advantage of power play earlier in the second period and scored the opening goal in 38th second of the play. Just over three minutes later, Kirill Kapustin scored his first goal to double Russia’s lead in 3:43.
St. Louis Blues’ Ty Rattie reduced the margin of lead that Team Russia had by scoring a goal through which was assisted by Sean Monahan in the seventh minute of the second period.
Even though Russia was short handed, Kapustin again scored a goal to give Russia a lead in the 14th minute of the period. Morgan Reilly, the first-round pick of Toronto Maple Leafs scored in the seventh minute of third period to reduce the deficit
for Canada and changed the scoreboard to 3-2.
But very soon Maxim Shalunov added another to Russia’s tally, followed by Kapustin completing his hat-trick to give hosts a 5-2 lead. Ryan Strome of New York Islanders did his best to bring Canada back in the game by scoring their third goal but Shalunov’s
second goal sealed the win for Russia.
According to Canada team’s coach Steven Spott, the difference between both teams was their discipline as he said,
"We knew that if we took poor penalties and were soft with our discipline we were going to allow them to stay in the game. Ultimately, for me, that was the difference in the game”.
He also appreciated the crowd as he said,
"It was very emotional. The crowd was in it. I can tell you the fans here in Yaroslavl have been outstanding."
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