Finland gets Czech Rep., Russia plays Sweden

The only thing which a winner of the game Finland v. Russia could get out of it was a group train ticket to Prague, because the match was a direct struggle for the group`s final second position. And the second team of Group B plays the third from Group A, which is the host nation of Czech Republic and Czechs play all their games in Prague.

According to picture of the play during the opening session, you would guess Russia is more eager to travel. They made the play, shot twice more towards Pekka Rinne than Finland on Sergei Bobrovski. And also scored the first goal.

In the nineteenth minute, Sergei Mozyakin reached for a hard slapshot which was stopped by nobody, but the net.

However Finns inclined to agile counter-attacks, but all missing a goal point. At least until the 25th minute, when Artyom Anisimov of Russia went to the penalty box. But Anisimov even did not warm the bench up and was free to get back on the ice, because a Suomi forward Aleksander Barkov converted the penalty only nine seconds after its start.

"For me it is a special thing, to play against Russia," said Barkov - who has also a Russian citizenship, "so also this goal is a special one for me."

Since this moment, activity of Finland increased and the play was more like the end-to-end hockey. But no more goals were to see, until the last five-minutes of the regulation.

In time 54:54 Artemi Panarin tamed a bouncing rebound which came to his stick after shots by Yevgeni Danonov and Maxim Chudonov.

However Finland did not give up, and 130 seconds to go in the third Joonas Donskoi tied the score at 2`s. As he stood all alone ahead of Bobrovski`s net, he had a lot of time to finish an offensive action of Barkov and Jussi Jokinen.

Rest of the play, including overtime brought no goal and as well as other three today`s matches, also this one had to come to a shootout. During five series, only one attempt of Donskoi was successful and with his second goal in the night, he decided Team Finland will pack up the baggage and go to Prague.

"To play in Prague in front of the home crowd? It is going to be a great experience for us. A tough game full of emotions," another Finnish forward Tuomo Ruutu thinks.

The losing team from this game, Russia, will face Sweden in Ostrava. According to Russian goalie #1 Sergei Bobrovski, Russia is ready: "Of course, we are. We need to make sure we will give everything what we have."

All quarterfinal games are planned for Thursday, May 14, for more info see fixtures >>

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