Salvation from 0: 2 and the fatal rebound from Zernov: the Russian national hockey team lost to Sweden in the Euro Tour match

The third stage of the Euro Tour stage of the season, the national team began in the experimental team up to the limit - among the players called by Ilya Vorobyov for the Swedish Games, there were no more than ten real applicants for participation in the May World Championship. And there were no hockey players who are generally recognized leaders of the national team: the coaching staff decided to look into the nearest reserve and refused the services of the leading performers of both "army" clubs, namely, under their banner, the strongest domestic performers performing side of the Atlantic.

Therefore, it was extremely difficult to judge what the Russian team of February 2019 was really capable of following a single match with Finland, even if it won. Even the most courageous experts refrained from categorical assessments: they did not criticize Vadim Shipachev’s link game, even though it missed the puck in their first shift at the tournament, praised the 20-year-old Lokomotiv goalkeeper, who did not flinch in his career debut in the national team (and even in front of the native Yaroslavl tribunes) and noted the actions of Dmitry Kagarlitsky. Forward Dynamo Moscow, perhaps, was not as bright during the main time of the match as in the KHL regular championship meetings, but it showed itself perfectly in the shootout.

We study the composition of the match!

Swedish hockey games, 🇸🇪 VS 🇷🇺

Start throw-in at 5:30 pm pic.twitter.com/HTZLDcjQLx

However, in order to assess the competitiveness of hockey players participating in Eurotour fights only occasionally (and often in the company of stronger partners who help young people cope with anxiety and avoid serious mistakes), the national team’s helper and ordinary fans needed a bit more material for analysis.

After the meeting with Sweden, Vorobyov definitely got it - after all, the match, despite the extremely distant from the optimal composition of both of its participants, turned out to be quite eventful. And not all of these events had a plus sign for Russian hockey players.

Bobkov missed twice, but kept the Russians in the game

From the very first minutes of the meeting in Stockholm, the Russian team indicated their desire to hold it from a position of strength. Domestic hockey players did not leave without work virtually unknown to the general public goalkeeper Adam Reydeborn, for whom this fight was only the second for the national team on the Euro Tour, and had the advantage of throws in each of the three periods. Somewhere irrelevant, as in the final quarter of a minute (12 attempts at 11 at Tre Kronor), but in the starting segment it was almost twofold.

But by the first break on the Hove scoreboard, containing just over eight thousand spectators, the zeros were still burning: the Russians not only didn’t use the double small penalty of forward Dennis Rasmussen, who played for the Metallurg Magnitogorsk s club, but didn’t even play most complete four minutes due to own removal.

Igor Bobkov, who replaced Konovalov at the last turn of the Russian national team, was less likely to join the game than Reydeborn (a total of Avangard goalkeeper made 21 salvages against 32 of his Swedish counterpart), but he was the first to capitulate.

In the debut of the second period, the hosts unsuccessfully skated almost two minutes in a five-by-four format, but distinguished themselves in equal compositions - after throwing defender Tom Nilsson from the blue line by the efforts of striker Michael Lindquist who fought off the blue line slipped into the net. To score a goal, the referees had to study the episode video replays: the Swede’s skate was definitely in the goal area, but he did not break the rules, as it turned out.

Traditionally collected the statistics of the game # SWERUS # RedMachinepic.twitter.com / mXZADA7xU8

Having missed, domestic hockey players, as it seemed, lost concentration for a while. Kagarlitsky on clean ice came under a hard power reception, after which he was almost invisible when playing in equal compositions, Alexei Kruchinin failed to complete the potentially very dangerous Russian counterattack, dispersed by Anton Burdasov, and Rasmussen didn’t punish another removal again. But “Tre Krunur”, having stood in the minority, quickly doubled the advantage - forward Emile Larsson from a good position threw Bobkov between the shields.

There is nothing to blame the Russian goalkeeper for the match, however. Perhaps he missed the puck in not the most dangerous situations, but it was Bobkov who left the national team in the game at the end of the second period, eliminating the threat after Jonathan Davidsson entered his goal. Igor was also good in the third period, when the team had a chance to fight three against five opponents, and the game as a whole became more open, intense and double-edged.

Bobkov's efforts were not in vain due to the effective work of the special teams in the first half of the third period. Skipachev's ability to conduct the actions of partners when playing for the most part from the fifth attempt helped him to distinguish himself with a numerical superiority (Anatoly Nikontsev, who defends the colors of Spartak, became the author of the puck), and one of the heroes of the fight with Finland, Ilya Mikheev, earned and sold himself in the last seconds of the Russian minority, having run away on a date with Reideborn in the best traditions of Cyril of Blind, a sample of the recent youth world championship in Canada.

2: 2! Mikheev, well, you space in general! # SWERUS # RedMachinepic.twitter.com / XoxJA2rhv8

At the 51st minute, opponents actually had to start all over again. And more Swedes have succeeded in this.

Swedes activity

Sweden's head coach Ricard Grenborg, considered one of the most progressive European hockey specialists, ventured to take a 2-2 score - largely because of the home status of the match and the desire to please his own fans with a victory.

The second half of the final period of the “Tre Krunur” held at maximum speeds and whenever possible tried to cover the national hockey players when leaving the zone of protection, making them nervous, make mistakes in transmissions and lose the puck where it is impossible to part with it.

Against the basis of the Russian national team (or at least the team of the Channel One Cup sample), this move might not have worked, and the experimental holder of Vorobyov at some point floated. Denis Zernov failed to orient himself correctly in the game moment after the transfer because of Bobkov's goal on the coin, and the puck ricocheted from his stick just ideally fell under the throw of the 19-year-old striker Isaac Lundestrom, who did not miss the decisive moment.

More than seven minutes left before the final siren, the Russians did not have enough for another comeback. The national team did not realize another majority, and the attempt to play together with the six turned into an accurate throw by Frederick Handemark on an empty goal, which set the final score of the match - 4: 2 in favor of Tre Krunur.

This failure prematurely deprived Russian hockey players of the chances to fight for victory in the Swedish games - regardless of the results of the matches of the final match day of the tournament, the third stage of the Euro Tour will be left to the Czechs, who have already managed to deal with the hosts and the Finnish national team Kovarzha and Jiri Sekacha).

But for this team Vorobiev second match in Stockholm will still be very important. Almost every player in the team has something to prove both to himself and to the coaching staff - and this primarily concerns Mikheev, Alexander Kadeykina and other hockey players, to whom the doors to the championship of the planet may open in the future.