Losing in a shootout on Thursday to Slovakia did not sit well with anybody in the Russian locker room.
But despite dropping crucial points, the team remained upbeat even though they knew they had a lot of work to do. So in practice, they worked. They changed up the line combinations, they endlessly worked on the power play, but maybe most important, they quickly became a very motivated bunch.
In nature, their next task was not complicated. Beat the Czech Republic in regulation and the group was theirs. Take anything less than the full three points and they would face the possibility of no first-round bye in the knockout stage.
But actually completing that simple task would take every amount of skill and passion the Sbornaya had.
The game began at a rather slow pace, as the teams attempted to figure each other out. Slava Bykov sent out a unit of Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, and Alexander Semin to start. But a few heavy hits and odd man rushes by the Great 8 set the tone and it was immediately noticeable that Russia had came to play.
About half way through the period, Russia ...
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Article written by Sergey Zikov
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