Russia Demolishes Latvia 9-1 at World Juniors

Russia got their first three points on the board at the 2017 World Juniors on Tuesday with a one-sided 9-1 victory over Latvia.

After losing to Canada in a tough 5-3 contest on Monday, Russia wanted to reverse the outcome against the much weaker Latvians. At 5:33, Grigori Dronov passed the puck to Danil Yurtaikin just before the Latvian blueliner. Yurtaikin then pushed off an opposing defenseman while skating in to the zone, breaking in all alone. With all the momentum, it was fitting that Yurtaikin was able to skate in and backhand it between Gustavs Grigals’ legs and in for the 1-0 goal early.

After sitting in the box for a double minor for high sticking, Alex Polunin made amends by coming out of the box and scoring on a rush. Almost undetected by the Latvian defense, Polunin skated in and fired a quick wrister between Grigals’ pads and in for the 2-0 lead.

Russia would take the 3-0 lead into the first period. With just over two minutes to go in the frame, Pavel Karnaukhov picked up a garbage goal in front by knocking the bouncing puck out of the air to make it 3-0 Russia.

The Latvians decided to let Denijs Romanovskis take over in net for the second period, but it didn’t start off well. Just 56 seconds in, captain Kirill Kaprizov took advantage of a horrible defensive effort by the Latvians and beat Romanovskis at the doorstep, giving Russia the 4-0 lead with most of the game still left to be played.

Latvia needed a bit of convincing, but they’d score to put themselves on the board. While on the power-play, Rudolfs Balcers deked past a Russian defenseman before sending a hard shot below Vladislav Sukhachyov’s blocker for the 4-1 goal.

Latvia was pleased, but after scoring three goals on three straight shots, they were forced to make another goalie switch. At 24:21, Yegor Kykov’s shot would go right off the crossbar and right back into the slot, with Polunin picking up his second to give Russia the 5-1 lead.

Then, on the next shot just 43 seconds later, Russia ended Romanovskis’ night. This time, a beautiful spin deke by Kirill Belyayev put the game well out of hand after making it 6-1.

The Russians did their best to limit their chances against but they still managed to find the net early in the third. At 46:07, Kaprizov got his third goal of the tournament with a shot in close to give Latvia the 7-1 goal with the man advantage. Then, shortly after, Yakov Trenin scored with the two-man power play, making it 8-1 Russia. Then, with 3:53 left in the game, Kaprizov found the loose disk behind Grigals, jamming in his third for the hat-trick on the play. Fortunately for the Latvians, it was the final goal that would get scored against them, but Russia was still able to finish with the 9-1 victory.

The Russians will get their first break of the tournament on Wednesday before meeting up with USA on Thursday at 3:30 PM. Latvia will also get a break before hitting the ice later that night for an 8:00 PM start against Canada.

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Photo from Alex D’addese/Hockey Canada

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