Nerves of the day
The Russian national team, which won seven victories in the group stage, should have justly received the weakest opponent from Group A, who managed to get into the playoffs. However, the team of the USA opposed the wards of Ilya Vorobyov in the quarterfinals, in which many NHL stars, led by Patrick Kane, were gathered. Although the Americans took fourth place with two defeats, they certainly could not be called a passing rival.
In order not to give opponents unnecessary reasons for hope, the Russians without hesitation attacked Jeff Blashill's charges and achieved a comfortable advantage of two goals. Already in the second minute, Nikita Gusev was well oriented on finishing, and towards the end of the first period, he helped Mikhail Sergachev to realize the majority.
After the break, the Russians began to calm down, while the Americans began to use counterattacks and look for happiness in small tricks. It cost Luke Glendening once to block the review to Andrei Vasilevsky, as soon as the puck immediately appeared behind his back, taking off into the air after the throw of Brady Neck. However, the remaining time in the second period, the US team players spent in fruitless attempts to even the score.
The fact that the Americans were not going to surrender was obvious, and to return the groundwork in two goals was the main goal of the Russians. Fortunately, at the beginning of the third period Sergachev intercepted the puck and now allowed Gusev and Kirill Kaprizov to escape to the counterattack. As during the Olympics in Pyeongchang, this couple coped easily with their task. Gusev scored the third point for the match and came out on the third place in the list of scorers, and Caprices distinguished himself in the second consecutive match.
After that Nikita Kucherov missed an empty goal, as the Americans immediately punished for wasting the moment. Noah Hanifin aptly aimed under the crossbar Vasilevsky. Comfortable backlog returned a few seconds later, when Mikhail Grigorenko ordered the puck on someone else's patch. Almost 12 minutes remained until the end of the match, and it was impossible to call them simple for the national team.
Despite the fact that Vorobyov's charges updated their record for throws for the match, having made 43 attempts, the Americans acted much more dangerous at the last minutes. Their perseverance led to Alex Debrinkatt's goal less than three minutes before the siren. Because of the video survey taken, the Russians lost the right to time out. As a result, the Russian national team still won with a score of 4: 3, playing on the nerves of the fans at the end of the meeting.
Drama of the day
Simultaneously with the match Russia and the United States in Kosice, Canada and Switzerland found out the relationship. Their game stretched to overtime, which became possible only thanks to the most exciting moment of the World Cup.
The Canadians, being the second seeding number in the playoffs, were the clear favorites of their match. However, they had the same status before the previous meeting of the two teams in last year’s semifinal. Then the Swiss brought a sensation and knocked out the finalists of the last three years from the tournament.
This year it was not necessary to draw conclusions about the outcome of the confrontation either. Despite the fact that the Canadians transferred their rival with a score of 12: 5 in the first period, by the break they were inferior. The Swiss realized the only removal of Jared McCann for this time period. Sven Andrigetto powerfully charged from the blue line while Simon Moser closed the review to goalkeeper Matt Murray.
Canadians, who had long earned their goal, were leveled in the 26th minute thanks to a shot by Dante Fabbro, who corrected Mark Stone. But after their own puck, the North Americans gave up the initiative, while the Swiss continued to show a high-quality offensive game. They lacked only one more deletion, but they earned it at the end of the second third. Nicky Hyshir again brought last year vice-champions forward three seconds before the siren.
From this point on, the forefathers of hockey again began to play like the last time. The goalkeeper Leonardo Genoni was hit by a hail of 20 shots in the third period. The goalkeeper heroically withstood the siege, except the last assault. Canadians still threw the puck at the last moment — Defender Damon Siberson stopped the timer at around 0.4 seconds! Similarly, Canada upset Slovakia in the group stage, although at that time the North Americans were not threatened with defeat, and there were a few tenths of a second left before the end of the match.
For extra time, the Swiss have no more strength. In the sixth minute, Mark Stone scored a double, after throwing Pierre-Luc Dubois on the patch after the pass, and became the main character of the match. The Canadian national team for the fifth time in a row reached the semifinals of the World Cup - at the moment it is the longest acting series among all teams.
Shootout day
Although it is not customary to show spectacular hockey in the playoffs, this trend is not necessarily followed if the match is the main Scandinavian derby - Sweden vs. Finland. This confrontation could be called the most unpredictable, since at the group stage the Swedes did not always use all the possibilities of their excessively stellar composition, and the Finns from the most undervalued team quickly turned into the main thunderstorm of favorites.
Bored in their match really was not. The very first shot of the Finns turned a goal - Henrik Lundvist did not catch the puck of Niko Miccola, who launched it from the blue line. Immediately, Jon Klingberg punished the players of Suomi for violating the numerical strength, at the same time allowing Viktor Nuhlander to break away from Kucherov by two points in the bombing race.
The Swedes were also able to powerfully click from afar - with the help of these casts they scored two more goals. True, Patrick Hörnquist corrected Oliver Ekman-Larsson's throw from the blue line, but Elias Pettersson scored on his own at the very beginning of the second period. But the Finns did not lose their head and quickly responded with two goals, which the attackers of Salavat Yulaev Sakari Manninen distributed to the partners.
By that time, the half of the match was barely over, and both teams still had high chances of reaching the semi-finals. However, the Swedes managed to break the opponent by throwing the puck in seconds before the second break. The heated Finns were forced to sit in the dressing room instead of recouping, and by the third period they had already lost their ardor.
With great difficulty, the Finnish national team still regained the initiative. The Swedish defense was especially reliable at that moment, but when the Finns replaced the goalkeeper, the six field players could no longer cope. On the penultimate minute, Mathias Ekholm did not notice the puck in his legs and accidentally gave it to the hook of Marco Anttila, who scored the first goal in the tournament. In overtime, the Finns quickly brought the matter to victory - Sakari Manninen added an incredible precision hand cast to his three shows.
By the time the extra time was over in the match between Finland and Sweden, it already became known that the next opponent of the Russian national team would be determined in the Scandinavian derby. Wards of Ilya Vorobyov will now meet players, many of whom play in the KHL.
Rout of the day
With Canada, the Czech Republic made the semi-final pair. Wards Milos Riha were the only team that at the start of the playoffs fully justified the status of the favorite. The Czechs defeated Germany, for which the quarterfinal was again the ceiling.
For half an hour the Germans still resisted. The Czech team managed to open an account only thanks to a desperate interception, after which Jan Kovář celebrated a goal. Germany quickly won back due to an accurate throw by Frank Mauer, but in the third period it no longer claimed a start in the semifinal.
With the help of two more speed attacks, the Czechs increased the gap to 3: 1, and then received a gift from Philip Grubauer - the German goalkeeper in the simplest situation beat off the puck at Ondřej Chamber. When the goalkeeper left his post, Kovář issued a double. The Czech Republic defeated Germany with a score of 5: 1 and now will try to stop the lucky Canadians, avenging them for the premature departure of the Slovak national team from their home tournament.