Askarov has been mediocre or worse at 2 WJC's in a row. His inability to catch the puck in the last game was strange, as was his repeated losing of his stick. I have never seen anything like it. I was critical of some of the Russian defensive play, till on the replay I saw them have to repeatedly chase after his stick, or give him theirs. IMO, Larionov and his goalie coach should've gotten their heads together early on and pulled him from the game. Something clearly wasn't right.
Oh, and he wasn't bad because of TSN. Their coverage of his difficulties was spot on, and interesting for a viewer, but obviously, Askarov had no idea what the broadcast was saying while he was playing. I am not a big goalie blamer, but at this point I find myself saying the same thing that I did last year, which is, " if he isn't going to play well in big games, then how can he be a great goalie prospect?"
All goalies have to deal with pressure since they were young. It's in the job description. If he can't, then... All I can think of otherwise is that he wasn't right physically( sick, injured).