Russia Nudges Switzerland in 6-5 WJAC Thriller

An exciting back-and-forth contest saw Russia defeat Switzerland in a thrilling 6-5 decision at the World Junior A Challenge.

After a 6-2 loss to Canada West on Sunday, who then went on to lose 5-3 to Russia, Switzerland definitely didn’t look the team to beat in the game on Tuesday. That didn’t stop them from scoring the first goal of the game, though. After his team stole the puck in the defensive zone, Mischa Bleiker sent a pass out to Justin Sigrist in the slot, who beat Dimitrii Raiko with a quick wrist shot to make it 1-0 Switzerland.

Russia, however, proved to be too good to be let down that easily. At 15:34 in the game, Yaroslav Alexeyev shot went off the boards and on to the stick of Klim Kostin. Kostin had enough time to make a quick decision, and his decision to shoot the puck in the net made his team really happy after tying the game up at one apiece.

But Switzerland still was able to take a lead into the intermission. With 59 seconds left in the period, a giveaway by Raiko behind the net eventually saw Sigrist capture the puck. Sigrist was in a perfect place to snipe home his second of the night, giving Switzerland the 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play.

The first half of the second period didn’t see much action, but the second half saw both teams exchange a flurry of goals. Veniamin Baranov got the fun going on the power-play after he jammed in a rebound off of a shot from Andrei Svechnikov, tying the game up at two apiece.

But then the Swiss scored again, and it was a nice one. At the start of a power-play, Jan Petrig made a nice spin-o-rama move to set up Arnaud Riat, who made no mistake knocking the puck in at the doorstep.

Just 39 seconds after that, the Russians scored again. Svechnikov would grab his fifth point in just two games with a hard shot on net, blowing past Aleksander Jaks and in for the 3-3 goal.

There would be one extra goal scored near the end of the period, and it would once again put the Swiss back in the lead. To end off the explosion of goals, Nils Seiler took a pass in the slot and spun around on net, beating Raiko and giving the Swiss the 4-3 advantage heading into the second intermission.

If the scoring bonanza didn’t keep fans interested in the first, a tie game a minute into the third would have. 54 seconds into the third period, Alexey Lipanov's pass in front hit a skate in the crease and deflected into the net, tying the game up at four apiece.

Think the scoring was done? Think again. At 3:59, Svechnikov, who is considered to be one of the top prospects prior to the 2018 NHL Entry Draft, took a shot that rolled off Jaks arm and in for a weird, but satisfying goal for the Russians.

But then at 5:27, the Swiss tied it up once again. This time, Ramon Tanner escaped from behind the net where he had just retrieved the puck and sniped it over Raiko’s glove hand, knotting it up at five with most of the third period still left to be played.

The game required overtime to decide the victor, and when Russia put their best line out, it was surely going to spoil the fun for the Swiss. With just four seconds remaining, Veniamin Baranov sent a long stretch pass to Ivan Chekhovich at centre ice. Checkhovich, in a last ditch effort, took a snap shot from in close, beating Jaks with a quick release to give Russia the come-from-behind 6-5 victory in a thrilling Tuesday night contest.

With the loss, Switzerland will suit up again on Wednesday for one of the quarter-final contests. For Russia, they’ll get a bye into Thursday’s semi-finals with five points in two games.

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