Russia’s Captain, Ilya Nikulin, holds the Karjala Cup; Kuznetsov gets mugged in front of the net.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Russian National Team’s youngest player at 19, once again proved his mettle and how lucky-a**ed (Kuzya called himself that during last year’s WJC) he can be in clutch situations. With ten seconds left and Russia stuck in a 1-1 tie with the Czech Republic, Kuznetsov — currently leading the KHL in game-winners this season — potted his only goal of the tournament. Not only did the tally give Russia the win in their final tournament game, it also clinched them the 2011 Karjala Cup.

Video of his goal can be seen below the jump.

The footage above also includes the ceremony where Russia is awarded the Karjala Cup.

Despite only registering one point in the four tournament games, Kuznetsov also scored during a shootout attempt in Russia’s first game against Finland.

After today’s victory against the Czech Republich, Kuzya was interviewed by Sport-Express’ Andrey Kuznetsov. Below I have your translation.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I have a most enthusiastic impression of the tournament. I was able to score at the end, we won the tournament, and I liked working with the coaching staff. If they’ll call me up to the next EuroHockeyTour stage in Moscow, I’ll come happily. But I don’t know if I’ll get the invitation. The National team starts preparation for the Channel One Cup at the same time as our junior team starts preparation for the World Championships.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Did [Head Coach Zinetula] Bilyaletdinov teach you a lot?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Yes, but I don’t want to disclose all his secrets. I will only say that all the wise coaches, like Zinetula Khaydarovich [Bilyaletdinov], like Valery Konstantinovich Belousov, keep saying how important it is to play well on defense. And that’s what we saw in Helsinki. I think we won the Karjala Cup first of all because we allowed such few goals.

Andrey Kuznetsov: In Finland, you had to play on the fourth line. Was this a problem?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: No, because everybody had almost the same amount of ice time.

Andrey Kuznetsov: But with Tarasenko on your line that was created during the game against the Czechs, you clearly felt more comfortable.

Evgeny Kuznetsov: We’re not at the age when we can tell the coach what would be the best combinations on the ice [smiling]. That’s under the coaching staff’s jurisdiction.

Andrey Kuznetsov: What did the head coach say in the locker room after your third win of the Karjala Cup?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: He thanked us all and said that we made him very proud. He also asked us to work and train even harder and do notable things when we return home. We applauded him.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Which one of the Czechs surprised you most during the game?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: Petr Nedved. He’s so-many-years-old and still was able to score the key goals. He not only scored against us, he also scored twice against Sweden.

Andrey Kuznetsov: Do you expect to play until 39 like him?

Evgeny Kuznetsov: I’m going to be a hockey player even longer [smiling].

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Kuzya multi-tasks while talking to the media Tuesday.

The KHL is currently taking the week off so that the Russian National Team can participate in the upcoming Karjala Cup, an annual tournament held in Finland where the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, and Russia all face off against one another. 19-year-old Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was invited to play on the National Team and joined his teammates in Novogorsk, Moscow Region to prepare for their first game Thursday.

Despite the fact that the team is filled with stars such as Alexander Radulov and Vladmir Tarasenko, Kuznetsov — who was working out at the time — was mobbed by journalists during his media availability. In interviews to both Sovetsky Sport and Sport-Express, the gifted and versatile forward discussed his NHL plans, gossiped about the latest KHL news, and mused on what it will be like to play center again during the four day tourney.

Below the jump, check out my translation of the interview.

Question: Did you see what happened in Minsk with former Traktor coach Andrei Nazarov on Sunday?

Answer: Not yet, but I heard about it. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I think this story is overblown.

Q: You don’t see a coach going at the stands with a stick much…

A: The fans should blame themselves. They need to be respectful and not throw bottles at players on the ice. It was not pretty. And I understand Andrey Viktorovich. He’s an emotional person. You don’t need to blame it all on the coach because we are people. Everybody loses their temper sometimes.

Q: What do you think about the policy of the coaching staff directed to make the national team younger?

A: I’m all for it, because I’m the youngest [laughing]. Of course, I want to see more young players on the team.

Q: Did you hear that they wanted to try you at the center position [during the tournament]?

A: For me it’s more interesting and even more comfortable to play at center.

Q: But you’ll have to play more defense!

A: And that’s what I like!

Q: You’re the youngest player on the team. You’ll most likely have to pick up pucks after the training session…

A: That’s not a problem. The veterans here don’t push the youngsters around. We’re not living in the 80′s.

Q: Do you follow the Capitals, the team who drafted you?

A: I have a routine I follow so I can’t stay up late. But I do look up the score and see who scored goals.

Q: When are you going to leave Russia for the NHL?

A: I’ve made a decision. I know where and how I will spend the next few years of my hockey career. But I won’t talk about my plan. It would be uninteresting if I did so.

Q: Have you spoken with Dmitry Orlov who plays with the Capitals’ affiliate in Hershey?

A: Yes, we’ve talked over Skype a few times. He says that “things are okay over here”. It’s much more difficult to make it to the NHL for defensemen. There are a lot of players on one-way deals.

Q: Team Russia plays the Finns on Thursday. Mikael Granlund, who scored an interesting goal against the Russian National Team during last year’s World Championships, plays there.

A: I could make a joke about that, but I’m not of an age where you can say whatever you want to the media anymore. I will only say that I have a bet with [Traktor forward Petteri] Kontiola – the one who loses pays for dinner.

We need to beat Finns and Swedes right away. They need to know who the Russians are. We need to beat them with any players on their roster. Because if we lose once or twice, we’ll have a complex. That’s psychology!

Q: Everyone was surprised by Traktor’s great start…

A: I was surprised as well [laughing]. The key is that we are good on defense. It has helped the result so far.

Q: What are your thoughts on the World Junior Championship in Calgary?

A: I need to make the team first.

Q: WJC Head Coach Valery Bragin said you’re the only one who has a guaranteed spot on the team.

A: What if I play bad? Nobody has a guaranteed spot.

Q: Many people say that Russia hasn’t had such a strong roster as this in quite a long time.

A: Players who play in the Canadian junior leagues need to show something in the KHL first. Everybody talks about them as the top players for the next draft. I don’t want to offend the guys but I don’t think the level of hockey there is higher than in the MHL. I was offered a chance to go to the CHL myself. Many thanks to my Russian agent Valery Guschin who talked me out of taking that step. I’m just happy I didn’t go there. What would I do there? Clean windows in McDonald’s? I can do it here as well [laughing].

Russia will face Finland on Thursday, Sweden on Saturday and the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Capitals prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov scored his ninth goal of the season and nabbed a pretty assist in Traktor’s 3-2 win today over Vladimir Tarasenko and Sibir Novosibirsk.

Before the game, all eyes were on 19-year-old superstars Kuznetsov and Tarasenko, who played together on last year’s gold medal winning World Junior Championship team. Considered two of Russia’s finest young talents, they both played on Russia’s National Team already, were drafted in the first round of the 2010 NHL entry draft, and are among the KHL’s league leaders in goals.

Andrey Osadchenko, whom you may know in North America for the vlog he does with Steve Dangle called Joining the Rush, wrote a piece on Allhockey.ru about the meaning of today’s game.

Despite the fact that they have already played on different club teams, we’re used to thinking of them as of a single unit, the personification of Russia’s hockey future. Not the immediate future – a distant future. It has been made clear they’ll be great players, but when? Knock-knock, wake up citizens – the future is now!

[...]

Of course, Tarasenko and Kuznetsov won’t play each other for the first time, they’re not rookies in the KHL. But today they’ll hit the ice not as “young and promising”, not as “our bright tomorrow”. Today, they are the stars of the show.

Video of Kuznetsov’s goal and assist. At the end, Evgeny is also shown embracing Vladimir Tarasenko after the game with fellow 2011 WJC teammember Anton Burdasov.

Today Kuznetsov’s star shone brighter than Tarasenko’s. With eight minutes to go in the third and the game tied 1-1, Kuzya patiently held onto the puck and found defenseman Deron Quint for an easy powerplay goal. If you look closely at the video, you’ll notice Kuznetsov curls and drags the puck for several seconds– freezing both the penalty killers and the goalie– before setting up Quint for a lay-up. Unbelievable!

This goal, however, wasn’t enough as Sibir tied the game at two with less than three minutes to go. Kuznetsov needed only 13 seconds to take the lead back for Traktor as he was hooked down to the ice on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot. Kuzya easily scored and Traktor went on to win 3-2.

His ninth goal of the year today puts Kuznetsov only one tally behind Roman Cervenka in the KHL scorers race and ties him ironically enough with Tarasenko for second place. Also, the goal was his fourth game-winner of the season and gave him the lead in this category.

One final interesting note, this was Kuznetsov’s first game of the year in which he played more than 18 minutes and scored (he played 19:25 tonight). Earlier, all eight of his markers came in games where he played less than that.

A few days ago, both Tarasenko and Kuznetsov were named to the Russian National extended roster team for the Karjala Cup, one of four tournaments in the EuroHockeyTour which features the Russian, Czech, Finnish, and Swedish National teams.

Finally, if you visit the KHL’s website, you’ll notice a banner in which they are promoting Traktor and Amur Khabarovsk’s game on Thursday (8AM EST). Featured on it? None other than Kuznetsov and Amur’s Jakub Petruzalek.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.