Plekanec leads Czechs to win over Kazakhstan

13 May 2016Lucas Bradelj»

On the afternoon of Day Eight of the World Championships in Russia, the two most pleasant surprises of the tournament faced eachother. Kazakhstan proved to a pesky opponent, but two goals by captain Tomas Plekanec made sure the Czech Republic remains unbeaten.

The favourites from the Czech Republic were the more active team right from the get go. In the seventh minute Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadians netted in a rebound for the early go-ahead goal. Kazakhstan though continued to battle and became dangerous especially in the second period. Czech goalkeeper Pavel Francouz stood on his ground, denying all nine scoring attempts in the middle frame.

At the beginning of the third period, the Czechs found a way past the hard working Kazakh defence. David Pastranak perfectly fed the puck to Plekanec, whose one timer left goalkeeper Vitali Kolesnik chanceless. The Asian representative at the world championships came back with five minutes to go, as Nigel Dawes was let alone in the slot. The six-time world champions though added an empty netter for the final 3-1 result.

With this victory, the Czech Republic is still on first place place in Group B. The only other undefeated teams at this point are Finland and defending champion Canada, who will battle for first place in Group A on Tuesday. Kazakhstan will have their ‘Game 7’ tomorrow against Latvia. The winner of the matchup will most likely stay among the world’s Top 16, whereas the losing team will be relegated to Division 1A.