Alex Semin Scores Twice in Team Russia’s Gold Medal Win

Alex Semin has been relatively quiet since joining the Russian national team for the World Championships, recording only assists in his two games played before the final gold-medal round. Semin showed up for Team Russia in a big way today, scoring twice and recording one assist to lead the team to a 6-2 win, securing their first World Championship gold medal since 2009.

Slovakia came out strong at the beginning of the game, Zdeno Chara scoring within the first two minutes to take an early lead. It didn’t take long for Russia to push back — a goal from Semin tied up the game, and Russia went on to score four more unanswered goals from Alexander Perezhogin, Alexei Tereshenko, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, and Semin again. Alex Ovechkin took a slashing penalty late in the third, allowing Zdeno Chara the opportunity to score again on the power play.

Ovechkin notched two assists in the win, playing on a line with Datsyuk and Semin. Evgeny Kuznetsov, who has seen his ice time dwindle since Ovechkin and Semin joined the team in Sweden, only had one shift during the game, on the fourth line.

The Russian national team won all ten of its games this year, with a combined score of 44-14. This is Team Russia’s third World Championship gold medal in five years.

The game will be re-aired on NBCSN at 9:00 PM EST.