France beats Russia

09 May 2013 | Henrik Lundqvist

Nobody could predict this surprise. France beat Russia 2-1 in Helsinki today. Russia got the lead after a long wait but then France scored twice to beat all expectations.

The game was scoreless for almost 27 minutes before Russia took the lead on a goal by Alexander Perezhogin. The Russians probably thought that things would roll on towards an easy victory but three minutes later France tied it. Damien Fleury scored assisted by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Kevin Hecquefeuille.

At 36:48 Antoine Roussel stunned the Russians at he scored 2-1 for France. The goal turned out to be game-winning and France still is in the competition for a quarter final spot.

"It’s fantastic to beat the defending champions and the best players in the world," said French coach Dave Henderson to IIHF.com. "It’s so big for French hockey it’s hard to describe."

Alexander Radulov had a great chance to tie the game for Russia in the final minutes but missed the wide open net.

This was France first ever win against Russia at a World Championship tournament and the result ended Russia's winning streak at the World Championship at 13.

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