Washington Capitals: Team Russia Finishes Round Robin with Win
The Washington Capitals Russians have been on a tear throughout round robin. On Tuesday, Team Russia defeated Team Sweden 7-4.
Washington Capitals players Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov each had impacts on this important victory to give them momentum heading to the knockout round.
The first 20 minutes were pretty quiet. Gabriel Landeskog gave Team Sweden a 1-0 lead. In the second, Team Russia took over the game with six goals.
Team Russia tied it with a goal from Artem Anisimov of the Chicago Blackhawks while Evgeni Dadonov of the Florida Panthers gave them a lead they wouldn’t look back on. Kuznetsov assisted on the Dadonov goal. Ovechkin made it 3-1 with 11:09 to go in the second.
More from International Tournaments
- Michal Kempny and Martin Fehervary represent Capitals in IIHF Worlds
- Capitals: Connor McMichael wins gold for Team Canada in World Juniors
- Capitals: Prospect Connor McMichael scores first goal of World Juniors for Canada
- Washington Capitals: Three Players Win Bronze with Russia
- Washington Capitals: Five Players Go for the Gold
It was Ovechkin’s second goal of the tournament and it came off a sick through-the-legs pass from Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dinar Khafizullin fed Malkin a long pass.
Right as Malkin entered the zone was when he dished that pass off to Ovechkin, who wristed it past Team Sweden goaltender Jacob Markstrom of the Vancouver Canucks.
Kirill Kaprizov, Mikhail Grigorenko, and Malkin himself added to Team Russia’s lead. William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs got one back before Orlov made it 7-2 with 7:03 to play. Ivan Telegin and Alexander Barbanov had the helpers. Orlov’s goal was a wrist shot and like Ovechkin was his second goal of the tournament.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Arizona Coyotes and John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars got two late goals for Team Sweden but it wasn’t enough despite having outshot Team Russia 37-34.
Ovechkin played in 19 shifts for 14:54, scored one goal on six shots and was a +3. Orlov’s goal was his only shot of the game but the defenseman got a lot of ice time with 29 shifts for 20:25 and a +2. Kuznetsov played in 18 shifts for 13:52 with a +2.
Team Russia finishes the preliminary round with a perfect 7-0 record and in those seven games outscored their opponents 36-7. They will finish in first place in Group B while Team Sweden finishes in third place with a 5-2 record.
The quarterfinal matches have been set. Team Russia will begin tournament play against Team USA but Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov aren’t the only Capitals players with a hunger for coming out on top for the second year in a row.
Next. Russia defeated Switzerland on Sunday. dark
Jakub Vrana and Dmitrij Jaskin will also be in the tournament with the Czech Republic. They’ll be taking on Team Germany.