Russia's Nail Yakupov
Acclimatization and a troubling power play sent Russia on its way to its first CHL Subway Super Series loss to Team QMJHL in three years. What else was noteworthy with Mikhail Varnakov's squad Wednesday night? Well, it's a rather lengthy list.
- Varnakov broke up 'the Q-line' replacing Valentin Zykov with Anton Shenfeld on the right wing. Mikhail Grigorenko and Anton Zlobin remained on the line. They were Russia's third line in Game 1 but in Game 2 they were on the second line.
- Yaroslav Kosov and Evgeni Mozer, who took part in Game 1 for Russia, were healthy scratches for this one.
- Russia landed in Montreal last Saturday, meaning they should have reached the peak of acclimatization on Wednesday. Travelling over 50o kilometres north to Val D'Or on Tuesday also didn't help. It showed in the Russians' play throughout the game, although they did finally find their legs in the third period.
- Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Nikita Nesterov ended the night with a minus-1 and he really should consider himself lucky it wasn't worse. His mistake early in the first period led to a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush for the Quebec all-stars. He turned over the puck in his own end early in the second, giving a scoring opportunity to Jonathan Drouin and his careless play against the boards in the offensive zone led to another turnover and yet another 2-on-1 for Canada midway through the second. It was his mistake in the neutral zone that led to a 2-on-0 rush that ended with Jonathan Huberdeau's first goal of the night.
- SKA centre Andrei Sigarev played on the fourth line with Damir Zhafyarov and Valentin Zykov, but was arguably the best player for Russia. He scored a shorthanded goal with a lucky bounce in the first period and almost scored another shorty in the second but hit the post. In the third period he stripped the puck from François Brassard behind the net and almost put it home.
- Val d'Or hosted another Subway Super Series game back in 2006. Team QMJHL won it 4-3. Marc-André Cliché scored twice for the home team and Vadim Schipachyov had two goals and goalie Ilya Proskuryakov made 37 saves for Russia.
- Russia continues to struggle on the power play. It shows on the ice and it shows in the stats. Varnakov's squad was 0-for-6 in this game and 1-for-4 on Monday. It's hard to win hockey games with a 10 percent success rate when holding the man advantage.
- This game also saw a few rather questionable calls. Vladimir Tkachev was called for a trip on Charles Hudon late in the second. The usually subdued Tkachev couldn't help but laugh on his way to the penalty box. Andrei Mironov executed a classic hip-check on Samuel Henley in the thirdperiod but was called for a tripping. At the same time, Francis Beauvillier got only two minutes for boarding at 41:13 despite the fact Alexei Vasilevski was bleeding from a cut to his head after the collision.
- Team QMJHL played a much more physical game than it did in its series-opening loss. Nathan MacKinnon had a few talks with the Russians, and Huberdeau repeatedly slammed Mikhail Naumenkov's head into the ice late in the second. If Kosov or Nikolai Prokhorkin were on the ice, it would have been a different game. osov was a healthy scratch, and Prokhorkin is playing with the AHL's Manchester Monarchs.
- Vasilevski surprisingly started in goal for the second night in a row. Will Varnakov put him on the ice again Thursday night in Guelph after the Bolts prospects allowed five goals on 32 shots? Unlikely. Cue Igor Ustinski?
- Val d'Or Foreurs defenceman Artem Sergeev, playing on his home ice in North America, was plus-2 in Game 2. His defence partner, Mikhail Naumenkov, was plus-1 as well as the line of Nichushkin-Tkachev-Shalunov.