GDT: Group A • Dec. 26 • Switzerland 0, Russia 3

[MaxV]

I wouldn't say that Vasilevskiy faced nothing by easy shots. I think it just seems that way because his positioning, quickness and rebound-control were all excellent.

 

[cska78]

A silly, elementary question but I don't know the answer....can somebody please fill me in: Why wasn't Gusev drafted?

why wasn't Bobrovskiy drafted? "Russian Factor" plus Gusev is really small. His ice vision and passing is immaculant though and in all honesty he's more suited for large surface.

 

[rushockey]

I wouldn't say that Vasilevskiy faced nothing by easy shots. I think it just seems that way because his positioning, quickness and rebound-control were all excellent.

If you are relating to my post than I never said that. I said that his saves stats were padded by a number of low quality shots, that's why nobody should be thinking that against Canada or US the result would have been similar. As a matter of fact I estimate that Canada would have scored 6+ goals against the same Russian defense that played yesterday.

Vasilevsky was good but he never had to be insanely good because the opposition was not good enough.

 

[bruinswincup]

If you went to the game, how did KoKo look in person?

 

[SmellOfVictory]

If you are relating to my post than I never said that. I said that his saves stats were padded by a number of low quality shots, that's why nobody should be thinking that against Canada or US the result would have been similar. As a matter of fact I estimate that Canada would have scored 6+ goals against the same Russian defense that played yesterday.

Vasilevsky was good but he never had to be insanely good because the opposition was not good enough.

It was definitely a combination of the factors; that said, if Vasilevski had been equivalent to Wolf in that game, the Swiss would've scored a couple of goals.

 

[Jussi]

why wasn't Bobrovskiy drafted?

They probably thought he was a cop:

 

[Yakushev72]

Canada 8
Sweden 9
US 11

Russia has to score at least 12 lol

Since goal differential is no longer an official tie-breaker, it doesn't much matter whether you win by one goal or 11 goals. A win is a win is a win.

 

[Yakushev72]

lol the defense ****ing up till the end.

Well deserved shutout though. Vasilevskiy easily the best player and Kuznetsov pretty underwhelming in the 2nd half of the game.

Russian teams traditionally start slow in this tournament, but then gather momentum as the tournament progresses (one obvious exception - 2010). Give Kuznetsov time to develop chemistry with Apalkov and Kosov. I expect that they will be dazzling by the time the medal round arrives.

 

[Yakushev72]

If you are relating to my post than I never said that. I said that his saves stats were padded by a number of low quality shots, that's why nobody should be thinking that against Canada or US the result would have been similar. As a matter of fact I estimate that Canada would have scored 6+ goals against the same Russian defense that played yesterday.

Vasilevsky was good but he never had to be insanely good because the opposition was not good enough.

The philosophy shared by the Canadians and the US is that a low quality shot is better than no shot at all. They are constantly criticizing Russian teams for overpassing ("****iing shoot the puck!"), so I'm not sure that you can assume that there would be very few low quality shots by Canadians or Americans. You could certainly expect that the Canadians would get more point blank shots in front of the net, but there would be a far greater volume of low quality shots as well.

 

[Yakushev72]

The Swiss fired 40 shots against the Russians ?


The Swiss fired 40 shots ?

Why wasn't Makarov playing ?

European teams, particularly the Swedes and the Swiss, aren't intimidated by Russia to the same extent that they are intimidated by Canada, and the Swiss had success against the Russians in 2010 by throwing everything they had into forechecking and firing shots at the goal. Of the 40 shots, not that many were point blank from dangerous scoring territory. Most seemed to be long wrist shots from along the wing boards, where the shooters have a bad angle and the goalie is allowed to see the puck clearly. That said, the Russian D has to do a better job of closing off shooting lanes and clearing the puck to minimize scoring chances.

 

[zhenyas most fly rep]

Russian teams traditionally start slow in this tournament, but then gather momentum as the tournament progresses (one obvious exception - 2010). Give Kuznetsov time to develop chemistry with Apalkov and Kosov. I expect that they will be dazzling by the time the medal round arrives.

I agree, I was just giving my opinion on this particular game. Kuznetsov is too dominant at times not to have a greater offensive impact, at least stat wise.
Personally, I thought he was trying to do too much (as was expected from Russia's best player with a lot of expectations surrounding him).
However, if he had scored in the first period when he went through every Swiss, the rest of his game could have been a lot different.

BTW, they weren't playing with Kosov as he was on what you might call the 4th line (eventhough we know russian coaches like to give a regular shift to every lines)
Barbashev was the left winger on the Kuznetsov line.

 

[Fluke]

Not sure if it was heard on TV but there were a few good "Go Swiss Go" chants throughout the game from most of the arena. I think everyone there wanted to see the Swiss score, the crowd would have went crazy.

 

[Fulcrum]

I'm satisfied with how Russia started. I would be more worried if they were close to peak or peaked on their 1st game.

I've watched this tournament long enough to know that 1st game is always weak. There are always defensive collapses that have people running and screaming. Having said that, I've seen much worse defense from Russian teams, and was pleasantly surprised by some things.

My expectations were quiet low in that department, but history explains that.

Offensively, I would agree with Grigorenko- they should've scored about 8 goals. When you think about Kucherov's break away, Apalkov's and Kuznetsov (x2) one timers, the amount of 90% moments that the team created was way more than the Swiss.

 

[c9gunner]

Not sure if it was heard on TV but there were a few good "Go Swiss Go" chants throughout the game from most of the arena. I think everyone there wanted to see the Swiss score, the crowd would have went crazy.

I noticed that when Canada is not playing, Canadians usually cheer for underdogs and weaker teams. Secondly, one of the Swiss players (Sven Bartschi) is a Calgary Flames prospect. The crowd was really excited to see him play. So no surprise here.

 

[antidotevsk]

I think Vasilevskiy has Lenin on his mask.

I suppose it's the person from the game God of war ))))

 

[Latgale_fan]

The group is pretty much decided now i think, Switzerland, Russia and Sweden are locks imo to reach the quarters at least.

well, too early to judge... Russia is always bad starting the tournament and Swiss maybe outshot Russia but Czech Republic also outshot Russia in pre-tournament game, and even by a bigger margin. I don't think that Latvia can but Slovaks certainly can beat Swiss.

 

[cska78]

well, too early to judge... Russia is always bad starting the tournament and Swiss maybe outshot Russia but Czech Republic also outshot Russia in pre-tournament game, and even by a bigger margin. I don't think that Latvia can but Slovaks certainly can beat Swiss.

Swiss knew Russia will be coming with individual effort through the middle and all you have to do is seat and wait for a steal or a t.o. had they better finishers Russia could have lost that game. Bragin has a lot of work and it's better to see your problems now, than blow out your opponent, 'cause he's weak or you are going on andrenaline rush in front of the home crowd.

 

[Garyboy]

They probably thought he was a cop:

Hheheh. Thankey for posting. Onrait is a total sweetheart.