Quarterfinal: Russia 3 – CANADA 7

Goals: Kalinin (Volchenkov, Fedorov), Afinogenov (Kovalchuk, Grebeshkov), Gonchar (Malkin) – Getzlaf (Boyle, Pronger), Boyle (Heatley, Marleau), Nash (Toews, Richards), Morrow (Boyle, Keith), Perry (Getzlaf, Keith), Weber (Toews, Iginla), Perry (Staal, Getzlaf)
Shots: Russia 28 – Canada 42
Saves: Nabokov 17/23, Bryzgalov 18/19 – Luongo 25/28
PIM: Russia 10 – Canada 10

After playing its worst Olympic game in history, Russia is going home with a 6th-place finish. From the start of the match, Russia could not contain Canada’s aggressive and energetic offense. Only after 24 minutes and a score of 6-1, the coach pulled Nabokov. Bryzgalov fared much better in net, but Russia’s overall uncharacteristic play made the game uncompetitive. Russia lost in regulation time for the first time since the 2006 World Championship and lost under Bykov and Zakharkin for only the third time in a stretch of 31 games. This is also Russia’s first Olympic loss to Canada in fifty years. Clearly, the team that wanted to win more won.

Final stats:

Player	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM
D #5 Ilya Nikulin	4	0	1	1	0	2
D #6 Anton Volchenkov	4	0	1	1	+2	2
D #7 Dmitry Kalinin	4	1	1	2	+2	0
D #22 Konstantin Korneev	4	0	0	0	0	4
D #37 Denis Grebeshkov	4	0	1	1	0	2
D #51 Fedor Tyutin	4	0	2	2	+1	2
D #55 Sergei Gonchar	4	1	0	1	+1	2
D #79 Andrei Markov	4	0	2	2	-1	0
F #8 Alexander Ovechkin	4	2	2	4	+1	2
F #11 Evgeni Malkin	4	3	3	6	0	0
F #13 Pavel Datsyuk	4	1	2	3	+2	2
F #25 Danis Zaripov	4	2	0	2	-1	2
F #28 Alexander Semin	4	0	2	2	0	4
F #29 Sergei Fedorov	4	0	4	4	+2	6
F #42 Sergei Zinoviev	4	0	2	2	+1	0
F #47 Alexander Radulov	4	1	1	2	+1	4
F #52 Viktor Kozlov	4	1	0	1	+1	0
F #61 Maxim Afinogenov	4	1	1	2	+2	0
F #71 Ilya Kovalchuk	4	1	2	3	+1	0
F #95 Alexei Morozov	4	2	0	2	0	0
Goaltender	GP	W	L	GAA	Save %	SO
G #20 Evgeni Nabokov	3	2	1	4.16	85.3	0
G #30 Ilya Bryzgalov	2	0	1	1.78	94.2	0
G #40 Semyon Varlamov	0	0	0	0	0	0

Game 3: RUSSIA 4 – Czech Republic 2

Goals: Malkin (Datsyuk, Ovechkin), Kozlov (Radulov, Fedorov), Malkin (Semin, Tyutin), Datsyuk (Malkin, Ovechkin) – Plekanec (Elias, Kaberle), M. Michalek (Zidlicky, Blatak)
Shots: Russia 31 – Czech Republic 25
Saves: Nabokov 23 – Vokoun 28
PIM: Russia 12 – Czech Republic 6

After an unexpected loss, Russia stepped up their game to beat long-time rivals Czech Republic and win Group B of the tournament. Russia also clinched the #3 position in the overall points rankings. In a consistently tense game, hard battles were fought, brilliant saves made, and mistakes taken advantage of. After being shifted to Ovechkin’s line, Malkin emerged as the most productive player. Ovechkin himself continued to dominate with his physical play, including wiping out equally-strong Jaromir Jagr with a hit that led to the game-winning goal. Datsyuk, now centering Kovalchuk’s line, played over 20 minutes and was crucial in neutralizing the Czech powerplay. Russia did not escape injuries though, as Zinoviev sat out the third period due to hurting his leg from a hit involving Radulov and Czech David Krejci.

Photo Gallery:

Russia’s mega powerplay unit of Ovechkin, Malkin, Gonchar, Datsyuk, and Kovalchuk finally scored

Denis Grebeshkov tries to contain Jaromir Jagr

Pasha Datsyuk scored an empty-net goal in the last minute

Game 2: Russia 1 – Slovakia 2 (SO)

Goals: Morozov (Markov, Zinoviev) – M. Hossa (Demitra, Hossa)
Shootout goals: Ovechkin – Stumpel, Demitra
Shots: Russia 37 – Slovakia 33
Saves: Bryzgalov 31 – Halak 36
PIM: Russia 6 – Slovakia 10

Russia got its first real test in the Slovakian team and struggled to put the puck past goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Bryzgalov, who allowed five goals against Slovakia at the 2006 Olympics, was nearly perfect for Russia in this rematch. Despite coach Bykov shaping a powerplay unit of Ovechkin-Malkin-Semin-Kovalchuk-Gonchar, Russia still had powerplay difficulties.

Photo Gallery:

Ilya Bryzgalov making one of his 31 saves

Viktor Kozlov battles for the puck

Game 1: RUSSIA 8 – Latvia 2

Goals: Zaripov (Fedorov, Nikulin), Radulov (Fedorov, Kalinin), Ovechkin (Semin), Malkin (Afinogenov, Kovalchuk), Ovechkin (Datsyuk), Zaripov (Zinoviev), Kovalchuk (Malkin, Tyutin), Morozov (Malkin) – Vasiljevs (Nizivijs, Cipulis), Ankipans (Sprukts, Karsums)
Shots: Russia 45 – Latvia 20
Saves: Nabokov 18 – Masalskis 37
PIM: Russia 10 – Latvia 16

The coaching staff established the units as follows: Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Semin-Korneev-Grebeshkov, Kovalchuk-Malkin-Afinogenov-Gonchar-Tyutin, Zaripov-Zinoviev-Morozov-Markov-Nikulin, and Kozlov-Fedorov-Radulov-Volchenkov-Kalinin. Russia started out these Olympics with a bang as predicted, firing 19 shots on Latvia in the opening period. The team did ease defensively at times, allowing Latvia to realize two chances in the first four minutes of the third period, but Russia sealed the match with three goals in the same frame. In the end however, Russia scored on only one powerplay out of eight. Korneev played the most, logging 17:00 of ice time.

Photo Gallery:

Ovy in action

Nabokov did have work to do in this match

Alexander Radulov scores from a sharp angle

2010 Olympics: Russia’s Final Roster

Player	Team	Date of Birth	Place of Birth
D #5 Ilya Nikulin	Ak Bars Kazan	12/03/82	Moscow, RUS
D #6 Anton Volchenkov	Ottawa Senators	26/02/82	Moscow, RUS
D #7 Dmitry Kalinin	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	22/07/80	Chelyabinsk, RUS
D #22 Konstantin Korneev	CSKA Moscow	05/06/84	Moscow, RUS
D #37 Denis Grebeshkov	Edmonton Oilers	11/10/83	Yaroslavl, RUS
D #51 Fedor Tyutin	Columbus Blue Jackets	19/07/83	Izhevsk, RUS
D #55 Sergei Gonchar	Pittsburgh Penguins	13/04/74	Chelyabinsk, RUS
D #79 Andrei Markov	Montreal Canadiens	21/12/78	Voskresensk, RUS
F #8 Alexander Ovechkin (A)	Washington Capitals	17/09/85	Moscow, RUS
F #11 Evgeni Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins	31/07/86	Magnitogorsk, RUS
F #13 Pavel Datsyuk	Detroit Red Wings	20/07/78	Ekaterinburg, RUS
F #25 Danis Zaripov	Ak Bars Kazan	26/03/81	Chelyabinsk, RUS
F #29 Sergei Fedorov	Metallurg Magnitogorsk	13/12/69	Pskov, RUS
F #32 Alexander Semin	Washington Capitals	04/03/84	Krasnoyarsk, RUS
F #42 Sergei Zinoviev	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	04/03/80	Prokopievsk, RUS
F #47 Alexander Radulov	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	05/07/86	Nizhniy Tagil, RUS
F #52 Viktor Kozlov	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	14/02/75	Togliatti, RUS
F #61 Maxim Afinogenov	Atlanta Thrashers	04/09/79	Moscow, RUS
F #71 Ilya Kovalchuk (A)	New Jersey Devils	15/04/83	Tver, RUS
F #95 Alexei Morozov (C)	Ak Bars Kazan	16/02/77	Moscow, RUS
G #20 Evgeni Nabokov	San Jose Sharks	25/07/75	Kamenogorsk, KAZ
G #30 Ilya Bryzgalov	Phoenix Coyotes	22/06/80	Togliatti, RUS
G #40 Semyon Varlamov	Washington Capitals	27/04/88	Samara, RUS
Coach: Vyacheslav Bykov	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	24/07/60	Chelyabinsk, RUS
Assistant Coach: Igor Zakharkin	Salavat Yulaev Ufa	16/03/58	Bryansk, RUS
General Manager: Vladislav Tretiak	Russian Hockey Federation	25/04/52	Orudyevo, RUS