Canada comes out flying in win over Russia

Tonight’s primetime showdown between Canada and Russia was supposed to be a close fought matchup, highlighted by the game’s biggest stars, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. None of that happened, however, as both Crosby and Ovie were held pointless as the Canadians exploded for 7 goals and dominated the Russians throughout the contest.

Ryan Getzlaf opened the scoring just over 2 minutes into the first period, sneaking back door on a rush into the Russian zone and redirecting a pass from veteran defenseman Dan Boyle past Evgeni Nabokov. Russia got a powerplay midway through the period but was unable to capitalize, and Anton Volchenkov took a hooking penalty a few minutes later. Boyle got back on the scoresheet, netting the 2nd goal of the game with a wrister from the point. He connected with his San Jose teammates on the goal, as Marleau dished the puck to Heatley before heading to the net to screen Nabokov, while Heatley made a beautiful backhand pass off the boards for Boyle to gather up and fling on net.

Less than a minute later, Jonathan Toews stripped Evgeni Malkin of the puck at the Canadian blueline and fed Mike Richards who was flying through the neutral zone, Richards drew plenty of attention as he entered the Russian zone and found Rick Nash streaking to the net, and Nash roofed a snap shot over Nabokov to give the Canadians a stunning 3 goal lead. Dmitri Kalinin gave Russia a bit of life a few minutes later, as his slapshot beat a well screened Roberto Luongo and drew the Russians within 2, but Brenden Morrow restored the 3 goal lead with a hardworking effort that Nabokov should have stopped but allowed to squeak in.

In the 2nd, it was all Canada again, as Corey Perry got things going with Canada’s 5th goal of the night. Shea Weber chased Nabokov with Canada’s 6th tally of the night, sparking lots of chatter about whether or not he should have been yanked earlier in the game while Russia still had a chance. His replacement, Ilya Bryzgalov, played much better, allowing only one goal, and with the passing that set up Perry’s 2nd goal, one can hardly blame him for it. Ryan Getzlaf threaded a pass to Eric Staal through a Russian defenseman, and Staal slid it right across the goalmouth to Perry who buried it as he slid into the endboards.

Maxim Afinogenov and Sergei Goncar added meaningless goals for the Russians in the 2nd, but after falling behind 6-1, even the high-powered Russians didn’t have much of a chance in this one. Luongo was as good as he had to be, making 25 saves, while Bryzgalov made 18 saves, one more than Nabokov, the starting Russian keeper. Crosby and Ovechkin were both held off the scoresheet, with only 7 shots between them.

Canada will play the winner of the quarterfinals matchup between Sweden and Slovakia.