The match with Sweden was supposed not only to determine the position of the Russian national team in the group, but also to roughly outline its prospects in the playoffs.
The victory in regulation time allowed the Russians to be guaranteed to bypass the Swedes in the standings and take first place in the B quintet.
Such a situation would make it much easier to reach the second round of the playoffs, because in the first they would have gotten into opponents of one of the two participants in the quarterfinals who took fourth place in their group.
In case of defeat from the Swedes, the “red car” itself risked falling to the fourth line and starting its campaign for medals by meeting with one of the favorites of the competition.
Of particular interest was the game combinations, which Larionov would choose.
Until the match with the Swedes, the coaching staff made changes before each game, and there was no reason to believe that this time he would make an exception.
At least due to the possible absence on the ice of the injured Yegor Chinakhov and a good debut at the tournament of Mikhail Abramov.
In the match with Austria, the Victoriaville forward came out in the second line, scored an assist and left the ice with a “+2” rating.
As a result, Chinakhov did not make it into the application, and in the second three he was replaced by Yegor Afanasyev.
Otherwise, the winning line-up turned out to be practically unchanged, except that Daniil Chaika, who was previously considered one of the leaders of the team's defense, appeared in the role of the seventh defender.
And instead of him, Roman Bychkov appeared in a duet with Yan Kuznetsov.
Sweden have not been defeated in the group stage in their last 54 games.
Nevertheless, already at the 37th second, the puck was in the gate of Jesper Walstedt.
Rodion Amirov supported the breakthrough of Vasily Podkolzin and outplayed the goalkeeper, but the Canadian referees saw a violation of the rules by the forward SKA.
Larionov took the challenge, but the decision was not changed.
However, this only provoked the Russians, who continued to press hard on the Swedes.
During the first seven minutes, they made nine shots on target, and one of them was still effective.
Arseniy Gritsyuk covered the enemy at the side, and Abramov described an arc outside the goal and rolled out a pass to the far post.
Yegor Afanasyev found himself unsupervised there, transferring the puck into the net without any problems.
Larionov's wards had a chance to double the advantage in the score, including the majority, but could not take advantage of them.
The Swedes, little by little, pushed the game away from their goal, leveled the statistics on shots, and in the 15th minute they completely restored parity.
The defenders of the domestic team missed the attack of the Scandinavians and forgot Arvid Kostmar on a nickle.
The 19-year-old Linköping striker realized his moment.
Our squad for the final match of the MFM group stage.
⠀ 📍
Goalkeepers: Askarov, Akhtyamov
⠀ # russia in my heart pic.twitter.com / uqdXkaYNxB
- Hockey of Russia (@russiahockey) December 31, 2020
True, the Swedes were prevented from completing the period on a positive note by incontinence.
In the first third of the meeting, they were four of them twice, and the second removal was fatal.
The second scored puck in their goal was led by a very chaotic, but still very sharp attack of the "red car", and the players of the first three became the participants in the combination.
Podkolzin and Khusnutdinov left the defenders out of business with two passes, and Amirov “shot” Valstedt.
This time there was no reason to cancel the goal.
Until a certain point in the second period, the game was quite equal.
For the Russians, Podkolzin continued to be very active, demonstrating almost the brightest performance in the tournament, and Arseny Knyazev and Maxim Groshev had excellent opportunities to excel, but in the first case, the bar was saved by the bar, and in the second, by the goalkeeper.
Abramov was also close to success, but instead of throwing, he decided to execute a pass to his partner, which turned out to be superfluous.
The problems of the Russian national team began in the fifth minute, when the first-line defender Semyon Chistyakov was injured.
The Avangard hockey player was hit in the face with a stick and was forced to temporarily leave the site.
And four minutes later, one by one, there were deletions.
Knyazev was twice punished with a small fine with an interval of 64 seconds between deletions, which gave the Swedes the opportunity to arrange a real "bombardment" of Askarov's goal.
Until the end of the period, two more Russian players visited the penalty box, and Abramov did go to it seven seconds before the siren.
Mikhail could not cope with emotions and reacted too harshly to provocations from Kostmar, throwing him onto the ice.
Most of the Swedes did not take advantage of their chances, but they severely exhausted the opponent.
Already in equal compositions, the Russian hockey players made a mistake and allowed Alexander Holz to be in a shock position twice within a few seconds.
The forward could not close the cross at the far post, but then still left Askarov out of business.
Cope with the Russian goalkeeper allowed an insidious ricochet.
If after the first segment of the meeting the Russians had four more shots (14:10), then after the second they were inferior with a difference of six (21:27).
And for a long time this difference could not be reduced.
Yoel Rönnmark's wards controlled the game and had a significant advantage.
Yes, Danil Bashkirov and Groshev had a good chance, but the pass along the goal was not the most accurate.
Among the Scandinavians, defender Philip Broberg scored a spectacular slalom, but he was not enough for a throw.
The majority again came to the aid of Larionov's team.
For the first time in half an hour, she gained a numerical advantage over her opponent and upset Walstedt.
The Swedes were too carried away by the tutelage of Podkolzin and Amirov, completely forgetting about Kirill Kirsanov.
The defender, all alone, received a pass on the left edge and threw it into the far corner.
In the remaining time, the advantage was on the side of “tre krunur”, but until the last minute Larionov's charges managed to hold back the opponent's onslaught.
Askarov played splendidly, eventually recording 33 saves, and when he was powerless, the enemy was unlucky.
So, two minutes before the end of regular time, Kostmar caught Yaroslav by surprise, but the crossbar was in the way of the puck.
Nevertheless, 60 seconds before the siren, the Russians still wavered.
The Swedes locked the rivals in their own zone with six of them, and Noel Gunler hit the goal with a cannon throw.
Overtime in a three-by-three format is usually replete with bright episodes.
In equal compositions, both the two-meter Elmer Söderblom, who plays in the third link, and the forward of the fourth three Bashkirs could bring victory to their national teams.
However, the outcome of the confrontation was decided in unequal compositions.
Kostmar gave the Russians the opportunity to spend 25 seconds with four of them, which they used.
Six seconds before the end, Marat Khusnutdinov scored.
The Russian national team won the most important victory and guaranteed itself the second place in group B. At the same time, Larionov's wards can take first, if after a day the Swedes lose to the Americans in overtime or in shootouts.