Thursday at France’s AccorHotels Arena, the Russian National Team defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 in the quarterfinals, eliminating the Czechs from the 2017 World Championship . Russia will face the winner of Canada-Germany in the semis on Saturday in in Cologne, Germany.
Caps Russians Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetsov were huge for their home country, combining for three points in the win. Orlov scored his first career goal for the Russian national team (at the senior level), while Kuznetsov tallied two assists.
Orlov’s goal
Orlov’s goal started the scoring for the Russians. As Sergei Plotnikov skated the puck down the left wing, he dished to the Caps defenseman at the point. Orlov aggressively skated down the middle of the ice and nailed a wrist shot past Pavel Francouz’s glove.
Kuznetsov’s assists
Kuznetsov tallied assists on Russia’s next two goals. Kuznetsov’s first apple occurred 4:51 after Orlov’s first period tally. Kuznetsov, in a stunning individual play, raced down the left wing, curled around the net, and found Nikita Kucherov wide open in the slot for the power-play marker.
In the third period, Kuznetsov also tallied a secondary assist on Artemi Panerin’s goal.
#Panarin всё , в полуфинале мы , ждём Канаду 👌 pic.twitter.com/MScUheHJcl
— Igor K. (@Svetlyi13) May 18, 2017
Orlov received 18:50 of ice time while Kuznetsov skated 17:58.
WATCH: Dmitri Orlov talks about @russiahockey's preparation for their game against @narodnitym and advancing to the semifinals. #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/cKIt50wJWd
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 18, 2017
Additional reporting by Magnus Cadelin.
