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Ovi celebrates his goal. (Photo credit: Championat.com/Getty Images)
Despite allowing the first goal, the Russians dominated the Finns for almost the whole game, winning 6-2. Evgeny Malkin scored a hat trick, while Alex Ovechkin, Denis Kokarev and Sergei Shirokov each added a goal of their own.
Russian hockey writer Alexey Shevchenko, has been following the Russian National Team around during their stay at the World Championships, filming their exploits.
A few days ago, Shevechenko was hanging out with Evgeny Kuznetsov when Kuzya found the puck-firing machine set up for fans at the World Championships in Sweden, and decided to jump in.
Video is below the jump.
Photo credit: ria.ru
Top-seeded Team Russia defeated Team Norway today with a score of 5-2 to advance to the semifinals of the World Championship being held in Stockholm. Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin joined their national team on the ice for the first time and had an immediate impact, with Ovechkin scoring the first goal of the night and Semin providing two assists.
Ovechkin broke a World Championships pointless streak stretching back through all five games of last year’s tournament, scoring nearly eight minutes into the game. His tally began with teammate Alex Semin going strong to the net with the puck, allowing the Russian superstar to collect a rebound behind Norwegian goalie Lars Haugen. Ovechkin then knocked the puck in when he attempted to center the puck.
Photo credit: Paul Bereswill
Hey you: thanks for reading RMNB. Crazy season, right?
We started the year with our Winter is Coming promotional series. We documented a crazy winning streak, and then its astonishing decline. We said goodbye to one coach and hello to another. We saw gruesome injuries. We analyzed the Caps’ struggles at and before the trade deadline in our Capitals During Wartime series. We made posters and signs to pump up the fans and the team both. And we tracked the Caps as they made the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.
Yeah, we had exhaustive coverage this season, but there are so many questions left unanswered. Here are few we’d like to address this summer.
During the Russian National Team’s media day before the World Championships, Evgeny Kuznetsov announced that he will be staying in the KHL for two more seasons.
Kuznetsov works out with the Russian National Team.
The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for the Caps fans: the late -season, nerve-wracking, but ultimately successful playoff push; the first round series against the Bruins with Thomas-vs-Obama-gate, Karl Alzner waking the bear, Brad Marchand’s impeccable impersonation of Greg Louganis, Nicky Backstrom’s return as Mean Lars — and even some pretty decent hockey at times.
Meanwhile, half a world away, at Team Russia’s training facility Novogorsk, the Caps’ highly touted prospect, Evgeny Kuznetsov, is quietly preparing for his first World Championship tournament (at least when the power doesn’t go out). Kuznetsov found some time to talk to the Dinara Kafiskina of Sportbox.ru about his KHL playoff experience, his chances to make Team Russia’s final roster for the, and… ah, who are we kidding? We know you only care about one thing: Is Kuzya coming to Washington? Sure enough, that very question comes up at the very end of the interview.
Follow us past the jump for our translation and analysis.
Photo credit: RIA Novosti, Vladimir Pesnya
R-Sport’s Alyona Shilova talked to Evgeny Kuznetsov about… you guessed it: heading to the NHL. Kuznetsov reveals that Washington has made an offer to him, but he has not responded.
Alyona Shilova: How do you feel? Is it possible to grow professionally here, in the KHL?
Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yes, that’s a very good level. Possibly our league will be on the same level as the NHL soon.
Alyona Shilova: During the playoffs you said you’ve made the decision regarding your future: you will stay for one more year… Has anything changed or you said it not to get asked this question for some time?
Evgeny Kuznetsov: I wanted people to leave me alone for some time. You get tired of that. April 30th [KHL qualifying offers deadline] will come. Traktor will have to make me an offer, and we’ll see then. There’s no talks about that yet. I can’t do anything yet, I can only think, dream and talk about it all the time with everybody.
The Evengy Kuznetsov saga continues. After making comments to Russian television indicating he wanted to remain in Russian next season and then backtracking, the time for Kuznetsov to make his decision has come. Kuzya’s KHL team, Traktor Chelyabinsk, was eliminated from the playoffs in the Eastern Conference Finals in five games. He had two goals and two assists in the series.
He now has two options: sign Traktor’s qualifying offer worth around $1.5 million per year with the possibility of receiving an unknown KHL stipend or bolt to the NHL and sign an NHL entry level contact worth a maximum of $925,000 a season plus possible signing and performance bonuses. There are also outside factors likely to be at play — Kuznetsov was married last year and moving to America would be a big step for the 20-year-old non-English speaker. Kuznetsov is a part of the Russian national team so we likely won’t know anything until after the World Championships, taking place in Helsinki and Stockholm throughout May.
Evgeny Kuznetsov sprints down the wing during Game 1.
In the first two games of the KHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, Traktor managed to split their home games with Avangard. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who just came off a dominant, five-goal performance in the Semifinals, continued his torrid pace, netting two goals and an assist in Games 1 and 2. Let’s review.
Nine days ago, on KHL-TV’s “The Icing Show,” 19-year-old Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov revealed that he would stay in Russia next season.
“To be honest, my decision has been reached,” Kuznetsov told host Igor Larin. “It is my intention to continue my career in the KHL. At the same time there is no clarity as to which club it will be.”
Since then, no context has been gleaned from his statement until now.
Earlier today, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice, including the game-winner, to help push Traktor Chelyabinsk to the Eastern Conference Finals. In an interview with Rossiya 2 TV after the game, Kuznetsov admitted that his statement about staying in KHL was not serious. “I said that I am staying so they’d leave me alone.”
Below the jump, I offer a complete translation of his comments.
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