Five points by Malkin in a crazy game

It was a crazy game played between Sweden and Russia, Sweden had a 3-1 lead and lost it to 3-7 in a game were besides the great Malkin, the referees and a ugly playing Yemelin was in the center of things.

Just as in all Sweden's games in this tournament Sweden took the lead. It was on the It was Erik Karlsson who scored when he was given a lot of space to shoot on. Russia tied the game a few minutes later when Evgeni Malkin found Alexander Popov with a great pass, Popov made no mistake from close range. The Swedish team was upset with that Russia was allowed to do a line change after an icing moments before the goal.

Sweden also got the second power play of the game and kept the 100 % PP record in the game when Henrik Zetterberg had an easy tap in after a rebound from a shot by Daniel Alfredsson. Seconds after the goal Aleksei Yemelin made a very ugly spearing on Johan Franzén. Strangely enough he didn't get a major penalty for that but only a two minute penalty for slashing. Sweden however didn't managed to keep the perfect PP record even if it was very close in the last seconds. Thanks to the three power plays Sweden took a good grip of the game in the first period and had 16-7 in shots on goal.

"He stands one and half meter from the situation, I was sure that he would call him for spearing. It's a pity when they don't dare to make the call. I understand if they miss a hooking or diving but not when players can get injured", Henrik Zetterberg said about the referee and the spearing situation. "But I don't think we lost thie game there", he added.

Early in the second period when Yevgeni Medvedev found Sergei Shirokov with a great pass from a position in front of his own goal. Shirokov raced clear but Fasth saved the breakaway. After the chance Russia took over the game and put a lot of pressure on the Swedish team pushing forward in repeated attacks. But Sweden worked hard on defense and didn't allow many chances.

And when Sweden got fourth power play the smoking hot Swedish power play scored again. Johan Franzén was rewarded for his hard work in front of goal when he found the roof of the goal after a nice by assist by Henrik Zetterberg.

Loui Eriksson had an easy explanation to the successful Swedish power play "Good passing and a lot of traffic in front of goal"

Sweden got a fifth power play and Franzén got a lot of ugly hits by Yemelin in front of goal again without any call but when Yemelin took a clear dive Franzén was sent to the penalty box.

During the power play Evgeni Malkin reduced Sweden's lead, Fasth was on the puck but couldn't stop it. Shortly afterwards Yemelin took another dive and got Landeskog out for high sticking. You can't really say that Yemelin was the most popular man in Stockholm this night. And when Russia some how got a five on three power play after a fight of course it was Yemelin that could tie the game.

In the third period Russia got a great start when Fasth lost control of the rebound from a hard shot by Medvedev and Aleksandr Perezhogin scored on a volley. Just a couple a minutes later Evgeni Malkin some how managed to get 5-3 in behind Fasth. It seemed like puck bounced in between Fasth's pads. Two bad actions by Fasth that gave away the game.

"They get two quick goals at the start of the third, we played good until then. After that it's hard to come back", Zetterberg said and added about the Russian team "They're god-given players, they just have a bad balance sometimes".

But Sweden would get a ticket back into the game when Dmitri Kalinin got a match penalty for a high cross checking on Johan Franzén. Franzén left the game bleeding but it seems it was bad luck that made the stick hit him in the face and not deliberate action by Kalinin. Franzén however never returned to the game, a big blow for this Swedish team that already has been badly struck by injuries. But Sweden failed to score on the power play, really missing out Franzén's hard work in front of goal.

Instead Malkin could make it 6-3 when he and Popov passed the puck between themselves and Malkin scored on the open net. Perezhogin added a late for 7-3. At the end a very well deserved win for Russia even if the numbers were too big and you can have a lot to say how about a player like Aleksei Yemelin plays his ice hockey. Malkin was the decisive factor in this game, hopefully we will see a replay of this game in the final round and with better referees.

"We were focused all game", said Malkin. "We played against the best team of this tournament but we focused all 60 minutes".

Niklas Hjalmarsson had no excuses for the loss, "We just wasn't good enough in the second half of the game. I don't think we have played at out best yet and perhaps this was a wake up call for the rest of the tournament".

Sweden will probably take revenge on Italy tomorrow, but the question is how badly injured Johan Franzén is, his nose is probably broken. He is very important for this team. Sweden also has to improve their goaltending to be in the race for medals while Russia really need to work on their discipline to stay out of the penalty box.

 

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