Russia Scores Three Fast Goals to Stop Danes

11 May 2017Steven Ellis»

Three goals in just over a minute gave Russia a 3-0 win over Denmark at the World Hockey Championships.

The story of the game had to be the goaltending of George Sorensen for Denmark. Sorensen, who was making his World Hockey Championship debut, is known for a tremendous 2015 World Junior effort where he helped the Danes win their first ever top division World Junior game. That win meant more than they knew at the time, as it helped Denmark stay in the top division for the past three years.

On Thursday, his Danish team was outmatched by Russia from the start of the contest. Sorensen stopped all nine shots he faced in the first, and made the biggest stop of the night when he robbed Russia's top line after a great passing play five minutes into the second frame.

Unfortunately for the Danes, incredible goaltending couldn't stop Russia's three goals in 1:10. At 35:36, Artemi Panarin tricked Nikolaj Ehlers with a pass, forcing the Winnipeg Jets forward to move out of the way and make a pass in front. Bogdan Kiselevich took the feed and took a shot all alone in front, breaking Sorensen's shutout.

It only got worse from there. 18 seconds later, a terrible defensive effort in front allowed the Russians to move the puck around the offensive zone with little to know issues in front. In the end, Sergei Plotnikov was able to steal the puck and make a nice deke in front, beating Sorensen with the backhand to make it 2-0.

Then, to complete the onslaught of goals in just over a minute, the Russians scored again. This time, Vadim Shipachyov sent a pass out to Nikita Gusev in front after circling around the net, with Gusev knocking it in the empty cage to make it 3-0, a lead that would never change in the game.

With the win, Russia will be excited to have Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov from the Washington Capitals joining the team for the remainder of the tournament. The team will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Slovakia. Denmark will continue to search for their first regulation victory when they play Germany on Friday.

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