Russia Wins Bronze on Home Ice

It wasn’t the medal they wanted but the fans won't complain as Russia was able to get the bronze medal after defeating the United States by a score of 7-2.

It didn’t take much time for the Russians to excite the crowd first. After 6:23 of play, Slava Voynov’s blast from the point beat Keith Kinkaid and hit the mesh, giving Russia the 1-0 goal. It was a bittersweet goal for Voynov, who self-deported himself from the United States after legal issues stemming from a domestic abuse case last year.

With 6:19 left to go, Russia doubled their lead. The Americans were off to a slow start, so taking a penalty with no momentum wasn’t going to work. Sergei Mozyakin took advantage of the extra man and ripped a slapshot by Kinkaid’s right arm, giving Russia a big 2-0 lead early in the contest.

The Americans definitely looked overmatched, especially after playing their semi-final match less than 24 hours before the game today. They had chances, but very few of them really challenged Sergei Bobrovsky throughout the contest.  WIth the game half done, Pavel Datsyuk, who hasn’t officially announced his NHL plans for next season, found Ivan Telegin standing just in front of the crease all alone. Telegin had no issue tapping in the puck, doing so uncontested to put Russia ahead by three goals.

It continued to get worse for Russia. With seven minutes left in the second, a terrible line change by the Americans allowed Russia’s top line to come in on a 2-on-0. Artemi Panarin had no issue with this, using great patience before finding Evgeni Dadonov in front, who sent one quickly past Kinkaid for the 4-0 lead with a lot more game time to go.

The Americans finally got one back. Frank Vatrano ended Bobrovsky’s shutout after just sending one towards the Russian net, finally beating the Columbus Blue Jackets goalie and  giving the team something to cheer about.

Unfortunately for them, it was short lived. Shortly after, Panarin got one of his own after fighting off a Brady Skjei block in front to pick up a rebound from Anton Belov, restoring Russia’s four goal lead heading into the intermission.

The Americans didn’t want to go out without a fight, electing to use Montreal Canadiens goaltender Mike Condon for the remainder of the game. That did spark an early third period goal after David Warsofsky found Vatrano skating in, who wired it in for his second goal of the game.

The Russians, however, got the last laugh. Datsyuk, playing potentially his most dominant game of the tournament, stole the puck off of Jake McCabe behind the American net before saucering it over to Mozyakin in front. The KHL superstar had no issue scoring on the play, beating Condon to make it 6-2. Vadim Shipachyov would add to the lead with just seven gseconds left on the clock, finishing off a big 7-2 victory for Russia to win the bronze medal.

With the win, Russia has won their eighth bronze medal at the history of the tournament, their third since the end of the Soviet Union. The result comes just two years after Russia won gold in 2014 and a year after getting a silver medal after getting drubbed by Canada in the Czech Republic in 2015.

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