GDT: Quarterfinal • Feb. 19 • Finland vs. Russia • Part II

[Stephenson2*]

 

[Puckstuff]

while I agree the refs missed a couple calls including what would have gave Russia a 5 on 3... Finland has been the far better team

 

[Plub]

Kovy is such a ******.

 

[Bgav]

Would love aaltonnen on the nucks

 

[Aaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Officiating is fine. The difference is goaltending and the slow Russian defense.

Has to be frustrating to watch as a Russian fan. We've been there many, many times so I know how it feels to be outplaying the opposition and not be able to score.

 

[nwaZ*]

Ovechkin and Malkin should have their own lines. Ovi just kills everything with his tunnel-vision.

 

[Bieber fever]

this should not even be a upset . Russia defense is realy putrid

 

[failedsaucerpass]

Varlamov is like Russia's Carey Price. Gets a lot of credit for some reason.. but when the chips are down - sucks.

Like that 1-0 win over pens at the start of the season?

 

[saintflannel]

Do or die for the Russians.

 

[octopi]

This is just pathetic. Two of the best forwards in the NHL can't do **** in this tournament..

Welcome to system hockey.

The Finns have it.

 

[SingaporeRanger]

Our forwards are struggling but unlike the Russians our defense is top notch

Bingo, this is the big difference.
Russia's D is playing poorly and they don't have a Lundqvist or Price in the net so they get punished. Even a guy like Ovechkin that doesn't like to come back home is probably feeling the uncertainty.
Canada's O is more impotent than I expected, seem to mirror Sweden's since you see Doughty and Karlsson stepping up for needed offence in the respective teams.

Right now though, Russia is playing with five individuals on the ice, no chemistry in the lines at all, could be the pressure of being down two at home, but it seems to have been Russias doom, they have talented individuals but lack cohesion.

 

[nahcmo]

It feels like just yesterday when I was watching Rask play in the World Juniors. Time sure flies. He's been great this game.

 

[Fuzzy Bunny]

 

[Grave]

Rask is just lucky. Also overrated.

Refs 3 - Russia 1

Pretty much, the whole Finnish GDP was put toward winning this game.

 

[spintheblackcircle]

Even non-Russian poster agree that the refs are fixing this.

Nobody is fixing anything, jesus.

 

[Dominus]

Russia forgot to pay refs from the 50 billion. We clearly paid much more.

Kale hoitaa

 

[Roland of Gilead]

That russian domination at the end of the period began when finnish team had same players on the ice over 2 minutes. That was the point when finnish coach should took timeout.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Officiating is fine. The difference is goaltending and the slow Russian defense.

Has to be frustrating to watch as a Russian fan. We've been there many, many times so I know how it feels to be outplaying the opposition and not be able to score.

Lol the Russians are not outplaying the Finns in this game

 

[Paxton Fettel]

Finland is the better team so far, there is no question about that. They clearly deserve the victory based on the first 40 minutes.

 

[The Gloaming]

Haha, people whining about the refs are hilarious.

Russia isn't losing because of the refs.

 

[AHB*]

People crying about the reffing. Haha, ok.

What are they crying about? That one high stick call? I wasn't in the other GDT.

For what it's worth, I thought that was a fair non-call. The high stick looked to have been brought on by the Russian player during his penalty. Could be wrong though, need to see a replay.

Outside of that, it's been rather OK.

 

[Atas2000]

No,



and no.

Russia isn't playing a team game whatsoever, and it's killing them. Far too little movement on that last pp. They just don't seem to care about playing as a group

I was talking about the reffing alone. The weaknesses are obvious. Today the D is what it was supposed to be, not the best out there. All else is psychological stuff. But it's hard to play whren you see the other team is allowed every kind of garbage.

 

[WinTheRightGames]

Would love aaltonnen on the nucks

All he does is dangle. Except today he managed to score

 

[octopi]

Ovechkin and Malkin should have their own lines. Ovi just kills everything with his tunnel-vision.

Don't know why they didn't go Ovi-Datsyuk-Semin like they did in WCs.

 

[SidDidNothingWrong]

Even non-Russian poster agree that the refs are fixing this.

Refs are unfair in every game. If you can't win despite that you shouldn't win in general. The part of the game that told me it's ogre so far is when the Russian offensive machine powerhouse couldn't score on 5 Finns who have been on the ice for 2 minutes straight and weren't even skating towards the Russians and were inching their way towards the bench. I was sure the Finnish coach's folly would result in Russia scoring. Nope.