Good... but again not good enough

05 May 2013 | Dennis Mende

Germany showed their class also against Russia after stealing a point from co-hosts Finland in their WC opener. A hat trick by Ilya Kovalchuk and a controversial decision by the referees avoided another win of points for them though.

It was one of these matches for the German fans where you don't know if you should be proud of your team for playing top hockey against the current World Champions from Russia or angry at them for wasting - once more, just as against Finland - a big number of scoring opportunities that made impossible a better result.

Two days after an unlucky 3-4 OT loss against the Fins - the equalizer only came with 90 seconds left on the clock - the German team tried to repeat history as they had beaten Russia 2-0 at the 2011 WC already. The better start though came from the Russians who had their first major opportunity after barely 10 seconds when Endras deflected a shot by Alexander Radulov from the left circle. In the end a German defender had to get the puck away from the goal line! In the 14th minute both teams had the chance for the lead but first Baxman was stopped from short distance and then in the following counter attack Loktionov received a brilliant pass inside the neutral zone but was stopped by Endras who skated towards him.

At 23:20 Ilya Kovalchuk started his stellar performance. The NHL player stopped a pass by Medvedev left to the German net and with a precise shot into the left corner fired the puck past Endras for the at this point unexpected Russian lead! Around "half time" Kovalchuk was again in the centre of attraction when he used a perfect pass from behind the net by Alexander Radulov to double the Russian lead. Marcel Goc with a tip and Ullman had the best opportunites for Germany in this period.

After a tripping penalty against Perezhogin the Germans came back with a fast power play goal when John Tripp brought a blue line shot by Wolf over the goal line from short distance! Only five seconds had been past after the start of the power play. Bitter for the Germans was that a goal by Andre Rankel with five minutes left on the clock did not count according to the referees as they saw a goal crease infraction - in fact the player in question Christian Ehrhoff had been pushed into the goal crease by his opponent. As it is in such a late stage of a game, the Germans tried it with more offense and holes in their defense were used by the Russian offense when Kovalchuk completed his hat trick after receiving a cross-pass by Radulov in front of Endras during a fast counter attack. In the end Denis Kokarev even made it four for Russia with an empty netter.

Germany now will face Slovakia in a crucial match for a quarterfinal position on Monday at 16.15 CET while Russia play against USA in a hockey classic on Tuesday evening!