Sunday, December 27, 2009

Russia wins opener

Press Release

Kirill Petrov paced the Russian attack with a goal and two assists. Yevgeni Kuznetsov had two goals, and Maxim Chudinov and Dmitri Orlov also had two points apiece.

The Russians were much quicker and showed more skills, but the Austrians fought hard to avoid getting blown out. Still, Maxim Trunev opened the scoring for the Russians less than two minutes in.

Although the flow of the game was in Russia's favour, the Russians didn’t have many scoring chances. KHL sniper Nikita Filatov hit the post at 4:07 and missed the goal with another shot 30 seconds later.

At 11:38, the Austrians and the crowd at Brandt Centre celebrated the equalizer when Konstantin Komarek scored on the first power play for his team.

However, the Russians reacted with three goals before the first intermission. Maxim Chudinov and Vladimir Tarasenko scored on power plays, while Yevgeni Kuznetsov beat Austria goalkeeper Lorenz Hirn with a wrist shot into the top-right corner.

Russia maintained its three-goal lead after the second period. Kuznetsov scored his second goal of the night on a 3-on-2 rush at 6:20 of the middle frame, but Nikolaus Hartl made it 5-2 goal less than four minutes later on a breakaway, thanks to a great pass from Patrick Meier.

Hope lived on for the valiant Austrians when the Russians failed to capitalize on two two-man advantages in the third period and got into penalty trouble themselves. But the power plays didn’t work out as hoped for the Austrians, as Kirill Petrov made it 6-2 while shorthanded with eight minutes left.

“Unfortunately we were not ready at the beginning. We could keep up with the Russians later on with 5-on-5 players, but we had too many penalties,” said Austrian forward Komarek. “If we can correct that, I think we can achieve our goal – to remain in the top division.”

“It was a good game. We didn’t capitalize so much on our chances, but we won, that’s the most important thing,” Russia’s captain Nikita Filatov said after the game. “We have to improve our game a lot because we didn’t show anything special, especially in the power play.”

Austria faces Sweden on Sunday, while Russia's next game is Monday versus Finland.

(Nathan also is a writer for Maineiacs Post to Post and the Maine Hockey Journal. He can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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