The hockey players of the Russian national team started their performance at the Swedish ice hockey games with a victory. In the starting meeting, “Red Machine” defeated Finland – 3: 2. A significant contribution to the victory was made by the attacking link with two hockey players of the Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo – Damir Zhafyarov and Ivan Chekhovich. Artyom Minulin scored the first goal from their passes. The author of the second goal was Chekhovich, who made his debut in the national team, and Zhafyarov, the team captain, again chalked up the effective pass.
The Russian national team continues to go unbeaten in the current Euro Hockey Tour. On February 11, the seventh victory was won after six at the two previous stages – the Helsinki Karjala Cup and the Moscow Channel One Cup.
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Igor Larionov, who heads the national team at the Swedish stage, did not reinvent the wheel in the first match and tried to make the most of the club’s links in the links. So, the first attacking three were from Nizhny Novgorod Zhafyarov and Chekhovich. Their tandem became a key factor in Torpedo’s success in the KHL, which allowed the club to secure its participation in the playoffs ahead of schedule.
This season, 22-year-old Chekhovich has scored 31 (14 goals, 17 assists) points in 38 matches. And Zhafyarov is the third in the dispute between the KHL scorers – he played 54 games, gaining 58 (20 + 38) points. For the 27-year-old striker, this is the second call to the national team – before that he participated in the 2019 Karjala Cup.
At the center of their link, Larionov put the young Marat Khusnutdinov from SKA, who played at the recent World Youth Championship in Edmonton. At the same MFM, under the leadership of Larionov, a bunch of Zakhar Bardakov and Maxim Groshev also acted. Their head coach put them together at the level of the national team, adding to them another youth player Vasily Podkolzin.
The second attacking troika was made up of center-forward Pavel Kraskovsky and forward Nikolay Kovalenko playing in Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. They got Vladimir Butuzov from the Khabarovsk “Amur”.
Only the third attacking link was mixed – Vitaly Kravtsov from Traktor Chelyabinsk and Sergei Shmelev from Sochi took places along the edges, and the coaches added Maxim Sorkin from CSKA to the center.
The first pair of defenders were Alexander Alekseev (Salavat Yulaev) and Artyom Minulin (Metallurg), the second – Daniil Pylenkov (Vityaz) and Sergey Zborovsky (Avtomobilist), the third – Kirill Kirsanov (SKA) and Daniil Zhuravlev ( “AK Bars”). The seventh defender was Daniil Misul, and the 13th forward was 17-year-old Nikita Chibrikov. Both were actively released on the ice during the match.
“I am very glad that the coaching staff gave the guys the opportunity to prove themselves in the national team and show what they are capable of,” said Shumi Babaev, an agent of Zhafyarov, Minulin and Butuzov, in a conversation with Izvestia. “I’m not surprised that Damir was entrusted with the role of captain. In principle, this is logical, since he is the oldest in this composition. In addition, in Torpedo he matured a long time ago and there he became a leader not only in terms of goals and assists, but also in terms of behavior in the locker room. This is noted by many of the club’s players, including foreigners. I am glad that Zhafyarov, Minulin and Butuzov were noted for their effective actions. This is especially important for Damir, because we are determined that he tried himself in the NHL, and now he took the opportunity to once again attract the attention of the scouts.
The links decide
It was the club ligaments that played a key role in the success of the Russian national team. The first ten minutes of the meeting, she did not create many chances at the front gate. It seemed that ours would get bogged down in the defensive redoubts of the Finns. But closer to the first break, Nizhny Novgorod played. At the 14th minute, Chekhovich moved the puck from the board to the center, where Zhafyarov immediately gave it to Minulin, who struck Harry Syateri from a lethal position. Two minutes later, Chekhovich himself became the author of the goal, and Zhafyarov chalked up the second transfer.
Thus, our team went for a break with a comfortable 2: 0 score. In addition, Kovalenko was very active in the fight, earning himself a removal from the Finns. Thanks to him, Russia had an advantage in the second period, but closer to the end it slowed down a bit and immediately got the puck into his own goal – Yeri Innala distinguished himself. The Finns immediately had the majority, but during it Russia was closer to the goal – Khusnutdinov went well to the other’s goal, but could not beat Syateri.
At the beginning of the third period, Kovalenko reminded of himself again, making a transfer to Butuzov, who went one-on-one and shot the Finnish goalkeeper. Thus, at the right moment, when the opponent had a chance to turn the tide of the meeting, our team quickly neutralized this threat.
There was an opportunity to revive Finland’s intrigue in the middle of the period, when they played the next majority. 30 seconds before its end, Innala scored again, but when he received the puck, the goalkeeper of the Russian national team, Alexander Samonov, moved the gate. Because of this, the judges canceled the goal, adding a removal to us. True, the opponent did not convert half a minute of the majority “5 vs 3”. And until the end of the game, Juuso Puustinen managed only to close the gap in the account at the last minute with a pass from Miro Aaltonen.
“A good match for our team and a victory won in the business,” two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov stressed to Izvestia. – We played confidently, not without recessions and mistakes, but this is normal, since the roster has been quite updated. And it is significant that the goals were scored by teams, where some of the hockey players play together in clubs. I think in the next matches the guys will act even more confidently.
Russia, after victories at the Karjala Cup and the First Channel Cup, made a good bid to win the Swedish tournament as well. Ahead of her matches with the hosts of the competition and the Czech national team.