Russia played their first game of the World Championship against Norway. They won 5-2.
Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov were held off the scoresheet, but Dmitry Orlov tallied a pretty secondary assist in the win.
Game highlights
Orlov got the puck on the blue line and carried it deep into Norway’s defensive zone. After protecting the puck along the boards, he made a savvy backhand pass through traffic to Mikhail Grigorenko, who threw it in front of the net to Artyom Anisimov.
Anisimov’s roofed it past Norway’s Henrik Haukeland and put Team Russia up 2-0. Norway’s two goals late in the third period weren’t enough to come back in the eventual 5-2 loss.
Shots were even with 27 apiece, and penalties were plentiful with three called against Russia and four against Norway. Russia’s goaltending by Andrei Vasilevski and their NHL superpower certainly factored in. Norway has no active NHLers on its roster, while Russia has fourteen, including the three Capitals.
Jonas Holos and Thomas Valkvae Olsen were the goalscorers for Norway. The Florida Panthers’ Evgenii Dadonov scored twice for Russia, while Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov and Vegas Golden Knights’ Nikita Gusev each tallied once. The Penguins’ Evgeny Malkin had an assist and a slashing penalty.
Russia’s next game is Sunday against Austria.
