Sochi 2014: Mens Results Playoffs

Norway v Russia 0-4 - Ilya Kovalchuk said after Russia's shootout win against Slovakia on Sunday assured the host nation of having to play a qualification playoff game to advance to the quarterfinals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics that he would rather face Norway instead of just practicing. That was some practice Russia had Tuesday. Alexander Radulov scored twice to give Russia a 4-0 win against Norway, setting up a quarterfinal matchup with Finland on Wednesday.

"I think we didn't give them much and that's a good sign,” said Kovalchuk, who scored Russia's second goal of the game at 17:11 of the second period to create some breathing room for his team. "We have less than 24 hours to prepare for the next game. We have to take the time to prepare the best we can."

The high-powered Russian attack sputtered again one game after failing to score through 60 minutes of regulation and five minutes of overtime against Slovakia. Russia led 2-0 on Tuesday until Radulov scored his second of the game into an empty net at 18:53 of the third. Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin each have one goal in four games as their line has been overshadowed offensively by Pavel Datsyuk's line with Radulov and Kovalchuk.

"The most important thing right now is the team," Ovechkin said. "It's not about personal stats, it's not about the goal-scoring lead. We're here to win the gold. It's not about winning scoring titles and all that kind of stuff."

If Norway was able to keep Russia at bay, one can only imagine what will happen against Finland, which lost 2-1 in overtime to Canada on Sunday in its final preliminary-round game.

"That is most important game for us," said Russia goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who stopped 22 shots for the shutout. "It's like a final game."

The game was scoreless through one period and Russia generated few chances, creating a nervous energy among the 11,423 at Bolshoy Ice Dome that has been present for all four of Russia's games, only one of which has come against a traditional hockey power, Saturday against the United States.

"There are 12,000 supporters every game and that's to help us," Russia defenseman Andrei Markov said. "We just have to do our best on the ice so they can go home happy."

Norway's Olympic tournament came to an end without its best player in the lineup. New York Rangers forward and leading scorer Mats Zuccarello did not dress due to a left hand injury, leaving Norway shorthanded at the most crucial time. Captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen took little consolation from playing two tight games against Canada and Russia and instead looked at where Norway fell short.

"Disappointing," Tollefsen said. "We didn't make our goal; that was the quarterfinals. It was a good game against Canada, I thought we battled hard and showed them what we're good for. Finland we didn't come out good enough, got behind the 8-ball right away and Austria too. That was the game we wanted to win and we're really disappointed we didn't. We would have played Slovenia [Tuesday] and maybe have a better chance."

However, the Norwegians played hard Tuesday and focused on protecting goaltender Lars Haugen, who sees several of the Russian players on a regular basis with HC Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League. Haugen was up to the task Tuesday, stopping 27 shots, including a number of quality chances in the second period as Russia outshot Norway 14-6. It was the second time Haugen allowed three goals against a hockey superpower after his 35-save effort in the opening game of the tournament against Canada.

"There wasn't that many shots; it was more just playing in our zone," Haugen said. "It was kind of the same thing against Canada, only they shoot a little bit more."

Russia's two goals in the second period were produced by the line of Datsyuk, Radulov and Kovalchuk. Radulov opened the scoring at 13:08 on a lucky bounce, wheeling around the net and sending a pass in front that went in off Norway defenseman Jonas Holos.

"It's very important," Ovechkin said of getting the first goal. "It's the kind of situation when you feel free after that. We know we have to score one and they're going to give us more chances because they're probably going to play more aggressive in the neutral zone and give us more time and space."

Russia began to buzz around the Norway zone after the Radulov goal, getting a number of quality chances in the following minutes. They made it 2-0 at 17:11 when Datsyuk found Radulov in front for a shot that hit the post but was tapped in by Kovalchuk.

"I feel like we were doing a pretty good job, but they get some lucky bounces at the start of the second," Haugen said. "Instead of them getting frustrated we started to get nervous. That was a little bit unlucky there for us."

Radulov scored into an empty net at 18:53 to make it 3-0 and Alexei Tereshenko scored shortly after that to make the score look like the game wasn't as close as it actually was. But it was the insurance goal scored by Kovalchuk that ensured he wouldn't have to eat his words from two days prior, and Russia withstood a bit of a final charge from Norway in the third period to coast to victory. With that a nation exhaled for a day, until the nerves return for Russia's quarterfinal game against Finland on Wednesday.

"They're a good team. They've got a good goalie and we have to find a way to beat him if we want a chance to win," Kovalchuk said of the Finns. "I think we play better and better with each game. Even with Slovakia I think we played well and created a lot of chances. We didn't score much but it was a big win for us [Tuesday]."

Latvia v Switzerland 3-1 - The message of Ted Nolan since he took over the Latvian team has been two-fold. First, he stressed that the Latvians were good players capable of doing great things. Also, he stressed that anything can happen in a short tournament. Tuesday, his players proved him a prophet on both counts at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Latvia, the No. 11 seed in the qualification playoffs without a win in three preliminary games, knocked off Switzerland, 3-1, Tuesday night at Bolshoy Ice Dome. Switzerland, the No. 6 seed in the qualification playoffs, is also the holder of the silver medal from the 2013 World Championships.
"It's great," said Kaspars Daugavins, the Latvian forward. "It's something amazing. Not many people believed we could do it. And we proved a lot of people wrong."
Now, the Latvians face Canada, the Group B champion, in the 9 p.m. game at Bolshoy Ice Dome on Wednesday night. Tuesday night, the pedigrees of the two teams did not matter. Neither did the fact that Switzerland had won the first meeting, in the preliminary round on Wednesday, with a goal with eight seconds remaining. All that mattered was that the Latvians were on board with their coach, ready to prove that a first trip for the country to the quarterfinals was not only a possibility, but a done deal.
"To get a win at the Olympics is something we would all like to have," Nolan said. "To go a little bit further is what we are here for. That is what the Olympics are all about. Miracles can happen."
The Latvians were not shy about calling what transpired Tuesday night as the greatest hockey thing to happen to their country.
"Those chances to get in the quarterfinals don't come along very often, so we have been waiting for this chance for four years," said forward Lauris Darzins, who scored Latvia's second and empty-net goals.
Oskars Bartulis scored the opening goal, a slapper through traffic, that beat Jonas Hiller (19 saves) to the far post to set the tone for Latvia, which took a 2-0 lead into intermission and then held on after Martin Pluss cut the deficit in half with 24:59 remaining. Switzerland, despite several Grade A opportunities, could not get the tying goal.
"It's a huge disappointment for Swiss hockey," alternate captain Mark Streit said. "We didn't achieve what we wanted to. It's not a setback; it's just tough to explain."
Latvia played a typical Latvian game, using an opportunistic defense, a physical checking game and the stout goaltending of Edgars Masalskis (32 saves) to stymie the Swiss.
"We played as a team, we stuck together, even when the times got tough in the game," said team captain Sandis Ozolinsh. "Now, I am really proud of this group of guys. Each one of them is responsible for this win as much as the other guys."
Ozolinsh, a defenseman, played a team-high 21:52 to lead the way. He has been around the Latvian national team since 1998, playing with the Soviet Union team before that. This victory means the world to him.
"Sandis, he loves the game," Nolan said. "He competes all the time. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. The last qualifier when he decided to come back to the national team, he led us in that tournament and he's leading us here today. I don't know if I'm coaching the team or he's coaching the team, but he's doing a great job."
Ozolinsh is front and center for the Latvians, owning a resume that features both international success and NHL success. But, the goalie, Masalskis, also is revered by many in the Latvian room. He played a huge game Tuesday, making several highlight-reel saves. None was better than a lightning-fast glove-hand save of a one-timer from Andres Ambuhl ticketed for the top corner. Somehow, Masalskis got his glove in the path of the puck before falling forward. He remained face-down on the ice for several seconds in a combination of exhaustion and satisfaction. He also stopped Reto Suri on a semi-breakaway just before Darzins scored his empty-netter.
"Our goalie just stood on his head to give us the win," said Zemgus Girgensons, the young Latvian forward who plays for Nolan in Buffalo.
The reward for the biggest win in the country's hockey history is playing the defending Olympic gold-medal champion. But, after Tuesday night, the Latvians know that anything is possible. They believe, like their coach taught them to believe. They are ready.
"It's going to be really tough for us, but we'll try to give them a hard time," Daugavins said. "You never know, miracles happened before, as long as we earn the miracle. We just have to go out there and work hard and have fun, just as we did today. Our goalie might stop every shot, he's good. You never know."



Slovakia v Czech Republic - The 2014 Sochi Olympics were barely more than 24 minutes old for the Czech Republic players and they were already down four goals to Sweden. After beating undermanned Latvia in underwhelming fashion, the Czechs failed to score against Switzerland, landing in third place in Group C and looking like a dysfunctional group. A strong start proved decisive Tuesday against rival Slovakia and, despite some nervy moments near the end, the Czechs are suddenly one game from playing for a medal. Roman Cervenka scored a pair of goals to help the Czech Republic defeat Slovakia 5-3 to set up a date Wednesday with the United States in the quarterfinals.

"We talked before the game with the guys and we wanted to have a better start than we had in the previous three games," Montreal Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec said. "It was our weakest part, the starts of the games. I thought we did a good job on that, but after that it was the opposite. Now we have to have a meeting about the second half."

The Slovaks got within a goal after falling behind 4-0 to start the game, but a slashing penalty to prevent a 2-on-1 in the final minute and an empty-net goal from Plekanec ended any doubt. If the tournament has been a struggle for the Czechs, it proved to be something worse for their neighbors to the southeast. Slovakia failed to win a game in four tries in Sochi. This is the first time that's ever happened for any of the countries commonly referred to as the "big seven." Slovakia has competed in six straight tournaments dating back to the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. Never blessed with a deep roster, the Slovaks missed injured Columbus Blue Jackets forward Marian Gaborik, and scored five goals in the four contests.

"That's the million dollar question, it's tough to say," Slovakia captain Zdeno Chara said when asked what went wrong. "We had a rough game the first game against the U.S. That game kind of put us really down mentally, our confidence was not there. But we bounced back against Russia and played our strongest game of this tournament. We thought we would follow up on that game [Tuesday] night and obviously we didn't. It's a big disappointment and we'll have to look back and figure out what went wrong."

The Czechs were the aggressors at the start and dominated much of the first period. A pair of goals 29 seconds apart put them in control. Ales Hemsky snapped home a shot from the slot at 6:53 for his first goal of the tournament. The Edmonton Oilers forward began these Olympics as the extra man up front for the Czechs, but he's become a fixture on the second line in short order. Plekanec banged a shot off the post seconds later, and Cervenka was there to put in the rebound at 7:22. Cervenka had nine goals and 17 points last season for the Calgary Flames before returning to the Kontinental Hockey League. David Krejci added a second power-play goal for the Czechs to forge a three-goal lead. Ex-NHL defenseman Tomas Kaberle, who had two assists, sent a pass to Krejci for a one-timer from the left circle, and the Boston Bruins center ripped it into the top-left corner at 17:03. Slovakia played better at the onset of the second period, but was unable to cut into the lead. Cervenka added his second goal of the game at 15:41 of the second. He stripped the puck from an unsuspecting Andrej Sekera near the Slovak blue line and patiently waited out goaltender Jan Laco before flicking a backhanded shot from a tight angle just inside the post. Laco, a backup to ex-NHL goaltender Michael Leighton in the KHL, had 36 saves in a 1-0 shootout loss to Russia in the last group game and was given the start ahead of St. Louis Blues netminder Jaroslav Halak, but he was unable to conjure similar magic two days later. Marian Hossa did get the lead back down to three goals at 18:57 of the second. His Chicago Blackhawks teammate, Michal Handzus, carried the puck behind the net before backhanding a pass to Hossa. It was Hossa's first goal of the tournament, and he added his second at 7:20 of the third to make it 4-2. Winnipeg Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped Tomas Tatar's whirling backhanded shot from the left wing, but Hossa hammered the rebound past him. Slovakia kept the pressure on, and it became a one-goal game 91 seconds later. Forward Tomas Surovy scored on a one-timer in transition from the high slot and Czech Republic coach Alois Hadamczik called timeout to regroup.

"We just stopped playing," Pavelec said. "We didn't play smart at all and gave them too many chances and too much space. At the end of the game we were lucky they didn't tie the game. … Good game for fans, fun to watch, not fun for us."

New Jersey Devils forward Patrik Elias did not play for the second straight game because of illness, and Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival confirmed Elias is not alone on the team in dealing with the bug.

"There's a couple of guys who weren't feeling really good," Rozsival said. "Obviously Patrik Elias went down hard. A couple of other guys didn't feel well. But it's the Olympics, so everybody's trying to do their best to battle through it. Nothing really serious."

The Czech Republic is now 4-0-0 against Slovakia in the Olympics, and 13-3-1 including games in the IIHF World Championships. The Slovaks did win the last meeting in the 2012 IIHF World Championship, but will be left to wonder where the future of the national team is headed with its top stars on the back half of their NHL careers. For the Czechs, their future is back in this building in less than 24 hours to face a United States team that waxed Slovakia 7-1 and has scored 14 times in three games.

"I'm not putting myself down, but if we played best-of-seven I don't like my chances," Krejci said. "But best-of-one? We're going to try to score the first goal and leave everything out there because we don't have to save ourselves for anything. Just go out there, play the game and we'll see what happens."

Austria v Slovenia 0-4 - Slovenia's "Mission: Impossible" has yet to fully run its course at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Slovenia, appearing in its first Olympics, booked passage to the quarterfinal stage of the men's hockey tournament with an impressive 4-0 win against Austria on Tuesday at Bolshoy Ice Dome in the playoff qualification stage. Coach Matjaz Kopitar called his team's progression to this point in the tournament something hard to imagine. "In the beginning of the tournament it was said that it would be mission impossible for these two teams to be playing to go to the quarterfinals," he said. "For both countries this was kind of a big game because it was historical first time."

But it was the Slovenians who got the desired result, earning a date with top-ranked Sweden in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

"It is, for sure, the biggest thing we have ever done in the history of Slovenian hockey," said forward Ziga Jeglic, who assisted on the opening goal by Anze Kopitar.

If somebody would have told me we were going to reach the quarterfinals, I would have hoped obviously but I wouldn't really believe it," Kopitar said. "But with the game that we have showed so far, I think we deserve it. I'm speechless," said goaltender Robert Kristan, who stopped all 30 shots he faced.

None of the Slovenian players could put into words what the win means for the tiny country, which is just starting to forge its hockey identity on the world stage. Slovenia is a country of fewer than 2 million people. According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, the country has 148 registered senior male players, seven ice rinks, one fully professional team and is No. 17 in the IIHF rankings. Matjaz Kopitar, the father of Anze and one of the leaders in the Slovenian hockey movement, tried to put the historic accomplishment into practical terms.

"I wish with this win we can get like five more ice rinks, because today the shoulders are going to be under pressure," he said, referencing all the congratulatory messages that will pour in for his team. "I want to see more ice rinks, I want to see more organizations going on in right way to handle the kids. This is the message to the people who are [responsible] for this kind of stuff."

The ripple effects of the qualification playoff victory have yet to be felt, but the accomplishment could not be denied.

"We believed we could take some points, but nobody was believing enough to say loud that we are going to play in the quarterfinal," Kristan said. "This is the moment. This is unbelievable; this is the best thing that could happen for most of the players in the locker room, except Anze Kopitar."

Slovenia arrived at this moment because it played the team game that had made it so competitive in the preliminary round. The Slovenians attacked aggressively, scored opportunistic goals, defended intelligently, excelled on special teams and received clutch goaltending from Kristen.

"Our goalie stopped all these pucks and then the game went the way we want," Matjaz Kopitar said.

After Anze Kopitar scored a seeing-eye goal through the legs of Mathias Lange on the power play 5:29 into the game, the Austrians pressed for the equalizer. Their best chance came on a first-period power play when a cross-ice pass found its way onto the stick of Michael Grabner, who leads the tournament with five goals. The forward, who plays for the New York Islanders, had a wide-open net at which to shoot, and then he didn't. Kristan exploded across the crease and somehow got his glove on the puck, knocking it out of harm's way. Not long after Jan Urbas scored a shorthanded goal and the Slovenians took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission and was well on their way to a date with history.

"That was probably the key save if we are looking back right now," Kristan said. "It was empty net, amazing save there. Maybe it would be a different game."

Austria never could find its offensive groove and Slovenia added a missile of a goal from defender Sabahudin Kovacevic and an empty-net goal from Jan Mursak to put the game firmly out of reach.

"We didn't have full game," said Grabner, who finished with five goals in four games. "We had times where we played pretty good and times where they just controlled the game. Obviously when you score no goals it is pretty tough to win a game."

For the Slovenians, they not only won the game but they earned the right to try to shock the world yet again.

"We would have been happy with one point before the end of the tournament," Kovacevic said, "but right now we're going for the gold medal."