I think Bragin should mix the lines a bit against Latvia.
Maybe try Yakupov and Kuznetsov on the same line.
Most boring game of the day award goes to:
Russia had a great first period where they totally dominated, but couldn't finish at all.
Back from the game, I sat next to Grigorenko's parents. Both are very knowledgeable, no surprise I guess. Kind of learnt the reason why Grigorenko left Russia, it is not my story to tell so I'll skip that.
The game itself was everything I expected. Slovaks played well as a team, they were very disciplined and majority of time they played as 4 defenseman and one forward. Again and again you would see 4 of them lining up to meet the Russians. I do understand why they had to do that in order to give themselves a chance to win.
Some of the things I have seen in this game: Bragin continues rolling all 4 lines. It is very annoying because I watch certain players and they show up once in a blue moon. I think because of that Kuznetsov literally does not want to leave the ice. He plays long shifts and as the result the efficiency of him and his line is low. Almost every Kuznetsov's shift was as long as Slovaks two shifts. Russia's top players just do not touch the puck enough to get into the rhythm of the game. But I also see why Bragin would want to do that, he gets to see every player in different situation so when the things get tougher the rotation will tighten.
Makarov looked nervous, more nervous than Vaslevsky in game one. He also made several key saves but all in all as a coach I would feel better with Vasilevsky.
GGK line was off today. You could see it right after the first shift. Gusev made some nice passes, but also had a couple of turnovers I hated. Grigorenko was off, had too many mistakes but made a great play on the third goal. Kucherov was better than the other linemates in terms of overall play, he killed penalties nicely.
Khokhlachev line was on and off, Yakupov played better than the first game, hopefully each following game will be better. Telegin had a subpar game, Khokhlachev played ok I thought.
Kuznetsov was a monster again, he is a gamebreaker type of player. You can see he is tuning himself up little by little. I am just not so sure if his linemates are up to task.
The jury is still out on the defense, I thought they committed less errors this time around but it is also partially because swiss are much harder forecheckers.
There were definitely some positives that Russia should build on, but changes are also needed, I would consider shuffling the lines somehow.
Gusev was pretty invisible
the story about grigorenko is known to everyone, who was following it, no need to play a detective here. I thought Telegin was the better player on his line today. I think Kuznetsov is trying to do too much by himself and has ZERO chemistry with his linemates. The difference between the star and a starlette is that the star is making everyone around him better, which Kuznetsov is NOT doing, but then again he had a slow start last year as well and looked awful in the first 2 games or so. I thought the best line was the 4th, played very hard, especially Barbashev. And thank you to CSKA guys for pulling yet another game for team Russia.
is the story with Grigorenko that CSKA wouldn't let him play on the main team?
and I agree with Kuznetsov. he is trying to be the "hero" again for us and is focusing on that more than just trying to play
is the story with Grigorenko that CSKA wouldn't let him play on the main team?
and I agree with Kuznetsov. he is trying to be the "hero" again for us and is focusing on that more than just trying to play
um, first of all he's only 17, there are players in the que who are older and have achieved WAY more. He (his parents) believed that he's good enough to play in the KHL and CSKA is Pejorative Sluring his developmnet, that's why the sqirmish with Slava Butsaev, then a coach of red-army and now Supler's assistant in the big club.
Barbashev didn't play on the 4th line!the story about grigorenko is known to everyone, who was following it, no need to play a detective here. I thought Telegin was the better player on his line today. I think Kuznetsov is trying to do too much by himself and has ZERO chemistry with his linemates. The difference between the star and a starlette is that the star is making everyone around him better, which Kuznetsov is NOT doing, but then again he had a slow start last year as well and looked awful in the first 2 games or so. I thought the best line was the 4th, played very hard, especially Barbashev. And thank you to CSKA guys for pulling yet another game for team Russia.
thanks.
do you think it was the right thing for him to do and leave?