Switzerland steamrolled by Russians

The whole game was dominated by the Russian skaters, who managed to outplay their opponent without much problem. Their road to victory started in the fourth minute by Nikita Zadorov and then followed by five more goals into the Swiss net to make it 6-0.

From the start of this game, Team Russia was proving their quality. The first goal came just 3:37 into the first period when Nikita Zadorov´s well-aimed one-timer from the slot on a pass from Vyacheslav Osnovin from behind the net.

The Russian pressure continued but Swiss goalkeeper Melvin Nyfeller was the reason why the score didn´t change. Occasional attacks by Team Switzerland were stopped by solid Russian defensive play.

Just 13 seconds into the second period it was 2-0 for Team Russia, as Anton Slepyshev put the puck right in between the pads of of Nyfeller.

Russia could have increased its lead to three, but Alexander Delnov´s shot as well as the following rebound were stopped by Nyfeller. Three minutes later, the video goal judge disallowed a goal by Team Russia due to an attacker standing in the goal crease.

With 1:32 to go in the second period, the Russians finally took three-goal lead. Bogdan Yakimov didn´t fail to score on a three-on-two rush, assisted by Slepyshev and Alexander Barabanov.

Nerves were running high at the start of the third period when Zadorov hit one of the Swiss players and soon three of his teammates came to defend him, which meant one penalty on both sides.

In the remaining minutes, Team Russia completely outplayed the Swiss. First, Alexander Delnov beat the Swiss goalie in the 49th minute. Three minutes later, Denis Kamayev managed to score another one to give his team five-goal lead.

The scoring was completed with 6:31 to go in the third period when Alexander Barabanov made it 6-0 for Russia, putting the puck into a half-vacant net on a breakaway.

“It was important to score the first goal. We were better tonight and all the Swiss shots were easy to save,” explained Russian goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevski.

On the other side, Melvin Nyffeler was obviously not as optimistic: “It was a tough game for us. The Russians were strong in front of net and they were putting on huge pressure with plenty of shots. They are really tall and that´s their advantage. I can imagine them in the finals.”