The match with Austria did not look like a difficult test for the Russian national team.
The debutants of the world championship could already be considered the weakest team in the tournament after dry defeats from the USA and Sweden with a total score of 0:15.
There was no reason to doubt the positive outcome of the meeting for Igor Larionov's charges, but still they were required to tune in to this game and not perceive it as a passing game.
Firstly, the victory was needed in order to guarantee a place in the playoffs behind the Swedes and the Americans, which is important for the team psychologically.
Secondly, with the new playoff format, the importance of the goals scored at the group stage has increased greatly.
There will be a re-draw before the semifinals, and the goal difference will be important in determining the next opponent.
And in the match with Austria it could have been significantly improved.
Thirdly, the Austrians still had one player whom the Russian national team should have feared.
Striker Marco Rossi was selected number nine in the last NHL draft - before any of the Russian players.
Last season, he became the Ontario Hockey League's top scorer with 120 points in 56 games and will soon be playing Kirill Kaprizov at the Minnesota Wild.
At the youth world championship, Russia has not yet scored goals or assists, but the Austrian prodigy could well save them for a match with the Russians.
After losing to the Czech Republic, Larionov continued to shuffle the fives and look for optimal combinations of players.
In the first link, Rodion Amirov returned to Marat Khusnutdinov and Vasily Podkolzin, and Yegor Afanasyev was demoted to the status of the 13th forward.
The second link included Arseniy Gritsyuk and Yegor Chinakhov, and Larionov chose Mikhail Abramov, who had not yet played on the ice in Edmonton, as the central striker for them.
The third three were formed by Yegor Spiridonov, Ilya Safonov and Danil Bashkirov - for the first time at this tournament they had to be in the same combination.
Only the link of Maxim Groshev, Vasily Ponomarev and Zakhar Bardakov remained unchanged.
The main substitution concerned the goalkeeper's position.
Instead of Yaroslav Askarov, Artur Akhtyamov was supposed to restrain the Austrians.
The goalkeeper was also replaced in the Austrian national team.
Sebastian Vranesitz, who saved 119 shots in the first two matches, gave way to Jakob Brandner.
Less than five minutes of the match, he had to get the first puck out of his goal.
True, he missed not from the game, but after the shootout, which was performed by Amirov.
The free throw was awarded for a foul by Jakob Pfeffer on Yegor Chinakhov - the striker even received a slight injury after the collision.
🚨🇷🇺 Rodion Amirov converts the first penalty shot of the 2021 #WorldJuniors against Austria, Vasili Podkolzin just added another to make it 2-0 for @ russiahockeypic.twitter.com / Fe2CHe0wwR
- IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 30, 2020
For Amirov, this goal was the first at the World Youth Championship.
Soon Podkolzin opened his own account.
The youth team captain entered the right throw-in circle with the puck and made a whipping shot that Brandner could not reflect.
Vasily Podkolzin doubles Russia's lead!
# WorldJuniorspic.twitter.com / 0rRBsUpM1H
- TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 30, 2020
Podkolzin did not stop there and almost became the author of a hat-trick until the end of the first period.
In the 14th minute, he took advantage of the rebound on the patch and brought the Russian counterattack to the end, and soon threw the puck between Brandner's pads, after which it slowly rolled towards the goal and almost stopped on the line.
Khusnutdinov had to finish off so that the defenders did not have time to endure her.
All four goals of the Russian national team were scored by first-line hockey players.
Things not going Austria's way as a shot by Marat Khusnutdinov dribbles past goalie Jakob Brandner giving @russiahockey a 4-0 lead # WorldJuniorspic.twitter.com / hj5rSLVNec
- IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 30, 2020
The second period was not as good as the first.
Not a single unit managed to build on the success and score the fifth goal, although there were enough such attempts.
The Austrians were pressed against their goal for a long time, but in the 28th minute they fled to the goal of Akhtyamov, and the Russians did not react to this counter-attack properly.
Zenna Peters beat the goalkeeper and scored the first goal for his team in the tournament.
A minute later, Safonov received 2 + 10 penalty minutes for pushing an opponent on board, and this was a very unpleasant event for the team, given that Chinakhov never returned from the locker room.
All attempts to score before the break were unsuccessful - the Russians had too much marriage in their game actions.
At the end of the 20-minute, Peters almost scored the second goal, again taking advantage of the unreliable game of the Russians in defense, but Akhtiyamov saved the team this time.
In the third period, the game of the Russian national team improved.
Less than a minute and a half later, the vice-champions of the world got the right to play an extra player.
22 seconds were enough for a goal - defender Artemy Knyazev just threw away from the blue line, and Khusnutdinov competently blocked Brandner's view.
From 🇷🇺 with ♥ ️ @russiahockey extends the lead to 5-1 with a pinpoint shot from Artemi Knyazev # WorldJuniorspic.twitter.com / PUCqGxEdE0
- IIHF (@IIHFHockey) December 30, 2020
After the fifth missed puck, the Austrian goalkeeper began to play at a completely new level.
Brandner, both during the delayed penalty and after the removal of Finn, van E made some impressive saves, thanks to which the score froze for a long time.
Still, he could not work endlessly.
Towards the end of the period, within one minute, first Yegor Afanasyev finished off the puck after two reflected shots and one hit to the post, and then Arseniy Gritsyuk scored with his pass.
For the remaining one and a half minutes, the Russians brought the number of shots to 50, after which they celebrated the victory with a score of 7: 1, delighting themselves before the responsible game with Sweden.
Based on its results, it will be decided what place in the group the Russians will take and which opponent they will receive in the quarterfinals.