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Canada overpowers Russia, makes World Cup final

Canada vs. Russia
Canada vs. Russia

TORONTO – For two periods, Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky single-handedly kept his team in the hunt for the World Cup.

But in the third period, Canada skated out and decided — to paraphrase another great Russian athlete —‘We Must Break You.’

Using an overwhelming offensive barrage, Canada advanced to the 2016 World Cup of Hockey final with a 5-3 victory over Russia on Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists, setting up both of linemate Brad Marchand’s two goals.

In total, Canada had 47 shots on goal and 75 shot attempts. Their goalie Carey Price, meanwhile, made 31 saves.

Crosby got the Canadians on the board by absolutely embarrassing Russian defenseman Dmitry Kulikov:

Crosby chased the puck and defenseman Alexey Marchenko to the corner. The Russian moved the puck to his partner Kulikov, who lost it off his blade and tried to kick it back with his skate. Instead, Crosby poked it free with his stick, turned, went to the net, deked and dangled Bobrovsky to make it 1-0 for Team Canada at 7:40 of the first period.

It remained that way into the intermission, with Bobrovsky making 16 saves, helping Russia kill off three Canadian power plays they earned in a 5-minute and 24-second span.

Then the Russians struck.

After Canada lost a faceoff, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester attempted to keep the puck in at the blue line. This was a mistake. The puck found Nikita Kucherov near center ice and he skated in on a 2-on-1 with Vladislav Namestnikov. He kept the puck and sniped it to the far side of the net past Carey Price for the 1-1 tie at 8:47 of the second.

The Russians then took the lead at 16:24 of the second, cycling in the Canada zone and producing a hard-working goal. Evgeny Dadonov sent the puck to Ivan Telegin, whose attempt was saved by Price. But Evgeny Kuznetsov was right there to knock home the rebound from mid-air for the 2-1 lead.

It was short-lived.

After some intense pressure from Canada, Sidney Crosby slipped a pass in front of Bobrovsky to Brad Marchand, who sent it into a gaping net for the 2-2 tie at 17:36.

The period ended with Bobrovsky having added 15 more saves to his total.

He made a highlight reel save early in the third period, as Patrice Bergeron found Marchand cutting to the net. But then he whiffed on another Marchand shot from long distance.

The goal was Marchand’s third of the tournament, and handed Canada the lead back just 1:16 into the third.

Then Canada found its footing and titled the ice, leading to Corey Perry’s rebound goal at 5:48 of the third for the 4-2 advantage. John Tavares picked the top right corner of the net at 9:22.

Artemi Panarin scored a late goal with Bobrovsky pulled.

Were it not for Bobrovsky, there’s no telling what this game would have looked like. The Canadians held a starting possession advantage. They held Russia’s biggest name scorers in check: Alex Ovechkin was a minus-2 with one shot; Vladimir Tarasenko had three shots on goal, but no points and a minus-2. (It should be mentioned that Pavel Datsyuk was unable to play due to injury.)

So it’s on to the World Cup of Hockey best-of-three final for Canada against the winner of Sunday’s semifinal game between Sweden and Team Europe, beginning on Tuesday.


Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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