Latvia Win Sends Kazakhstan Down
The game didn't see much scoring, but Latvia won't complain as they were able to beat Kazakhstan by a score of 2-1 on Saturday.
The game didn't see much scoring, but
Latvia won't complain as they were able to beat Kazakhstan by a score
of 2-1 on Saturday.
With the tournament coming to a close
soon, every game is important. Typically, Latvia and Kazakhstan
doesn't bring in big crowds, but fans were still eager to follow the
Group A points battle. Latvia, who has struggled this year more than
in recent years, had just three points heading into the game on
Saturday, including a point in a heartbreaking loss to Denmark on
Friday. Kazakhstan sat in last in the group heading into the game,
but after trailing Latvia by just a single point, all they needed to
do was win the game to overcome their opposition in the standings.
It took Kazakhstan just one real
scoring opportunity to find the back of the net. The team who has a
win over Switzerland in overtime to start the tournament, got a goal
from Nikita Ivanov after just 4:37 of play after dangling a Latvian
defender and firing it past Elvis Merzlikins, a goal that will likely
grace the hightlight reels on Saturday. It was Ivanov's first goal
for the young forward ever at the World Hockey Championships, making
his tournament debut against Switzerland.
The story of the game through the first
30 minutes was Kazakhstan's ability to actually get shots on net. In
fact, their fourth shot of the game came at the half way mark of the
game, a stat that wasn't going to hold over well if they planned on
taking the final victory. They did, however, get a bunch of quick
chances shortly after that, including a few on a power play with
eight minutes left in the second frame.
Eventually, Latvia was going to be able
to strike. Kaspars Daugaviņš, typically a star for Latvia, scored
just his first goal of the tournament on Friday in Latvia's game
against Denmark. It wasn't typical for him to be so quiet, so he
picked a good time to score his second marker at the World's.
Daugaviņš stole the puck in front from a Kazakh defender before
ripping it past Vitali Kolesnik with a high end wrist shot, tying the
game at one with five minutes left in the period.
The third period didn't see either team
take many chances, but it did see Latvia score a late goal to take
the lead. With five minutes left in the contest, Maris Bicevskis
stole the puck from behind the net and quickly beat Kolsenik on the
wrap-around, giving Latvia the important lead late. The goal was
enough to give the team the win, a victory that puts them four points
ahead of Kazakhstan and back into a safe zone before it's too late.
Latvia's win will put them within a
point of Switzerland for fourth in Group A, tying Denmark for fifth.
Kazakhstan's chances of staying at the top dvision were dashed with
the loss, as the team will head back down to Division IA for 2017
after just getting promoted last year.