Vasilevski steals the show in Game #1

Press Release Goaltender Andrei Vasilevski made 31 saves and the Russian All-Stars’ offence exploded for six goals to help them take a 1-0 lead in the 2012 Subway Super Series following a 6-2 victory. Team QMJHL was the beneficiaries of the first power-play of the contest early on after Kirill Kapustin was called for hooking. The Russian All-Stars played a solid two minutes on the penalty kill to keep the score tied at zero. Quebec Remparts all-star forward Mikhail Grigorenko opened the scoring at 9:49 of the opening frame by putting his scorer’s touch on display. The Russians doubled their lead just a few moments later. The first overall pick of the 2012 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Nail Yakupov, burst into the offensive zone and beat Étienne Marcoux with a nifty shot. The Russian All-Stars retreated to their dressing room with a comfortable 2-0 lead after the first twenty minutes of play. Kirill Dyakov and Andrei Sigarev were both sent to the penalty box early in the second period. Hometown favourite Xavier Ouellet cut the lead to one with a powerful wrist shot that fooled goaltender Andrei Vasilevski at 2:53. Maxim Shalunov put the visitors back up by two at 6:14. The winger burst into the offensive zone, using a defenseman as a screen before shooting the puck past Marcoux. The Russian All-Stars added another marker before the end of the second period. Mikhail Naumenkov put his weight behind a strong slap shot that made no mistake and give the Russians a 4-1 advantage. Jean-Sébastien Dea and Valentin Zykov added goals to complete the scoring. Xavier Ouellet was named the player of the game for Team QMJHL while goaltender Andrei Vasilevski got the nod for the Russian All-Stars. Game two of the 2012 Subway Super Series takes place at the Centre air Creebec in Val-d’Or on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports starting at 7 pm (ET). (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)