Sochi 2014: Mens Results Group A 02/16

Russia v Slovakia 1-0 SO - The Russian people will get to watch their men's hockey team play one extra game at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Of course, that was not the plan coming in. A plucky Slovakia team forced the powerhouse host nation to a shootout Sunday, costing Russia a chance to claim the fourth bye to the quarterfinals and forcing them to play an extra qualifying round game Tuesday. Russia finished fifth in the preliminary round, and will face 12th-seeded Norway in the qualification playoff Tuesday. The winner of their game will play No. 4 seed Finland. Alexander Radulov and Ilya Kovalchuk scored in the shootout to give Russia a 1-0 win against Slovakia to close Group A play. Russia goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped Michal Handzus and Tomas Tatar in the shootout, setting the stage for Kovalchuk to clinch the win as Russia's second shooter.

"Playing is better than training," Kovalchuk said. "We'll go out and focus. Now we can't lose, all the games could bring elimination."

The two points gained by the shootout win (regulation wins are worth three points) left Russia needing Canada or Finland to win in a blowout for Russia to move up to the fourth spot. Canada beat Finland 2-1 in overtime, ending those hopes.

"Of course we're not happy about this game," Russia captain Pavel Datsyuk said in Russian. "We wanted to win it in regular time, not to go into shootouts or cause heart attacks."

Slovakia finished last in Group A with two regulation losses and one overtime/shootout loss. They finished 10th in the preliminary round and will face seventh-place Czech Republic on Tuesday in the qualification playoff. The winner of that game will face the No. 2-seeded United States in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

"It's going to be huge for both countries," Slovakia forward Tomas Tatar said of his team's game against the Czechs. "It's going to be a battle."

The 11,907 flag-waving, screaming fans inside Bolshoy Ice Dome cheered their team just as passionately as they had 24 hours earlier against the United States. But as the game wore on the tension in the building appeared to mount until the victory finally was confirmed on with Kovalchuk's shootout goal. Slovakia coach Vladimir Vujtek chose to go with Jan Laco of Donbass Donetsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in goal, leaving Jaroslav Halak of the St. Louis Blues as the backup and Peter Budaj of the Montreal Canadiens scratched. The move paid off. Laco has a .942 save percentage and a 1.47 goals against average in 12 games as the backup to Michael Leighton with Donbass this season, and he went toe to toe with Varlamov and then some. Laco made 15 saves in the third period alone as the Russians pressed to score in regulation, and he capped his performance with a glove save on Alex Ovechkin at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Laco could not say with much certainty whether this was the best performance of his career.

"It is hard to say," he said. "We did not win and you play the games to win. It was a good game but we were still unsuccessful."

Over the first 40 minutes Laco got a lot of help from his teammates. The Slovaks appeared content to sit back and protect Laco, rarely sending more than one forechecker into the Russian zone and clogging the neutral zone. The strategy appeared to befuddle the high-powered Russian attack, which generated 16 shots on Laco while the Slovaks had 22 on Varlamov through 40 minutes.

"We didn't want to just play defense but we knew we can't play really offensively and have two guys in the [offensive] zone. Then they get a breakaway," Tatar said. "We knew we had to stay patient and they will make some mistakes. We were and we got a point from the game.”

A Russian power play that features some of the most potent offensive players in the tournament also was stymied by Laco and the Slovaks, going 0-for-5. Three of the five power plays the Russians had came in the third period, and twice they came within a few inches of taking the lead.

"It was a hot goalie and the luck was on their side," Kovalchuk said. "We hit a couple posts, missed a couple empty nets. But what are you going to do? That's the way it is. We have to find a way to go through that."

Just before the five-minute mark of the third period defenseman Yevgeni Medvedev took a shot from the point that was tipped by Alexander Radulov in front. The puck bounced off the crossbar, off the post and landed in the crease, where it was cleared by defenseman Andrej Sekera. A video review at the next stoppage in play confirmed that the puck stayed out. Later, at about the 12-minute mark, Evgeni Malkin took a shot from the faceoff circle that bounced off the far post.

"When it hits the post," Laco said, "it's not a goal."

Russia got a scare midway through the second period when Kovalchuk left the game with an apparent ankle injury. Kovalchuk was fighting for a puck with Slovakia forward Richard Panik in the Russian zone when the two fell awkwardly to the ice. Kovalchuk appeared to be in pain as he writhed on the ice for a few moments, but he was able to get up and limp toward the Russian bench under his own power. Kovalchuk remained on the bench for a few minutes testing the leg and standing on it before leaving for the dressing room. However, he came out for the third period and played a regular shift. The best scoring chance over the first two periods was for the Slovaks, when Milan Bartovic was sent in alone on Varlamov with about two minutes to play in the second. Bartovic's first shot was turned aside by Varlamov, but he got a hold of the rebound and forced Varlamov to stretch to keep it out right at the post. Now the Russians have a couple of days to reflect and make some adjustments after their offensive machine was limited to seven goals in three games of group play, including a 2-for-13 success rate on the power play. In a way, Kovalchuk might be right; perhaps Russia really could use san extra game to prepare for the medal round.

"It does not matter if we will have to play an extra match," Varlamov said. "The end result is that we will have to play against a good team eventually. And that is what we are focusing on."

USA v Slovenia - One day after he became an overnight sensation, T.J. Oshie was happy to pass the proverbial torch to the player who entered the 2014 Sochi Olympics as the hottest in the National Hockey League. A dangling and dazzling Phil Kessel helped the United States clinch an automatic bye into the quarterfinals 24 hours after Oshie and the Americans grabbed the attention of the sports world in dramatic fashion. Kessel produced the first hat trick by an American player in the Olympics since John LeClair in 2002 to lift the U.S. to a 5-1 victory against Slovenia at Shayba Arena, the venue across the street from Bolshoy Ice Dome, where Saturday Oshie put his quick hands on display in an eight-round shootout to lift the U.S. to a 3-2 win against Russia. Oshie's Twitter followers more than doubled from approximately 90,000 to nearly 220,000 from the ending of the game Saturday, when he went 4-for-6 in the shootout, to the final buzzer Sunday. USA Hockey has been receiving interview requests for him from all the major networks, including NBC, ABC and CNN. He is a hit, but Sunday he gleefully ceded the floor to Kessel.

"I was saying right before the game, I hope somebody does something pretty cool so that some of the focus gets off of me and onto someone else," Oshie said. "He [Kessel] didn't need six shots in the shootout to do it. He did it in regular time."

Kessel helped the U.S. finish the preliminary round on top of Group A with eight of a possible nine points. They earned the No. 2 seed and a bye into the quarterfinals Wednesday. They'll face the winner of the qualification-playoff game Tuesday between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovenians finished third in Group A with three points and eighth in the preliminary round thanks in part to their seminal win against Slovakia on Saturday, the nation's first Olympic victory in men's hockey. They will play Austria in the qualification round on Tuesday. The winner of that game will face top-seeded Sweden in the quarterfinals Wednesday. However Anze Kopitar, Slovenia's only NHL player, did not finish the game because of a stomach ailment. His father, Slovenia coach Matjaz Kopitar, said his son was being treated at the medical clinic in the athlete's village and is hopeful that he can play Tuesday. The Los Angeles Kings center played only 16 shifts totaling 11:31.

"It's something with the stomach," Matjaz Kopitar said. "He didn't feel well and he was without power so we didn't want to risk."
Kessel scored twice within the first 4:33 of the game to give the Americans a 2-0 cushion. He completed his hat trick 11:05 into the second period, and Ryan McDonagh scored 72 seconds later to put any comeback plans Slovenia might have had to rest. David Backes added a goal 3:26 into the third period. Kessel now leads the tournament with seven points (four goals, three assists). Joe Pavelski assisted on all of Kessel's goals.
"The speed and the shot from the player is elite," U.S. coach Dan Bylsma said of Kessel. "He can put teams in trouble with that speed and to finish it with the shot that he has, it's one of the more dangerous weapons out there. We have great determination through our lineup, but that's the type of speed and skill that we need and he's shown it through games one, two and three."
Ryan Miller, who was the backup to Jonathan Quick in the Americans' first two games of the tournament, finished with 17 saves but lost his shutout bid with 17.6 seconds left in his first Olympic action since the gold-medal game in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Quick didn't dress for the game Sunday; Jimmy Howard, who was a healthy scratch for the previous two games, served as Miller's backup against Slovenia. Bylsma would not say if Quick or Miller would start the quarterfinal-round game Sunday, but it's expected to be Quick, who has a 1.44 goals-against average and .944 save percentage in two games.
"I'm just a tap on the shoulder away any time, is what I told the coach," Miller said. "I thought Quick, he's been really impressive in his first games, especially in the shootout situation against the Russians. If I have to support Quickie, I'm going to support Quickie. It was nice to get in the net and contribute."
Kessel opened the scoring 64 seconds into the game with a gorgeous goal. He took a pass from Pavelski in stride, dangled his way around Slovenia defenseman Mitja Robar and slid a shot through goalie Luka Gracnar's pads. He made it 2-0 when he batted Pavelski's airlifted pass into the net at 4:33 of the first period. The Americans admittedly were leery about having a letdown following the emotional win against Russia, but those two goals from Kessel erased their concerns.
"If you go into the third period up a goal, down a goal or tied against a team like that, then the pressure is really on you," U.S. forward Dustin Brown said. "We took the pressure off ourselves early which I think is good for the longevity in the long run. But the attention to detail wasn't where we needed it to be."
That's partly because the Slovenians were undeterred by the early deficit. They pressured the Americans and generated some quality scoring chances on Miller, who had to make seven saves in the first period. The early lead also might have taken some of the emotion away from the U.S., which didn't seem as engaged in the game during the final 15 minutes of the first period and the first 10 minutes of the second.
"I don't think we were nearly as good as we need to be to be where we want to be," Brown said.
It took a quality shift by the fourth line, featuring Oshie, Blake Wheeler and Paul Stastny, for the U.S. to finally pin the Slovenians in their defensive zone for an extended period of time.
"I thought that was maybe our best point in the game," Bylsma said.
Kessel, Pavelski and James van Riemsdyk came out for the following shift and quickly made it 3-0. Gracnar stopped Pavelski's point shot with his right pad but Kessel beat Robar to the rebound and put it into the open left side of the net. McDonagh wired a shot from the right circle into the top right corner 1:12 later to give the U.S. a 4-0 lead. Wheeler, who played 38 seconds and had a minor penalty in the win against Russia, found McDonagh in the right circle with a pass out of the left corner.
"We had to keep working to get better, keep focusing to get better with every opportunity," Bylsma said. "Even with this game [Sunday] we had to keep working to get better. I think we've done that for seven days. We've set ourselves up with a day off [Monday] and now we have to get ready for Game 4, which for everybody will be an elimination game."