Czech Republic Dominate Belarus for First Win

The Czech Republic grabbed their first win of the 2017 World Hockey Championships with an easy 6-1 win over Belarus.

The Czech's dominated control during the first period, leading the shot count 12-1 after 15 minutes of play. Their first goal of the game came at 13:16 when Michal Birner fed an incoming Petr Vrana in front, with Vrana re-directing it past Kevin Lalande and in. 

Despite the goal against, Lalande was strong throughout the opening frame. The action was almost fully in the Belarus end, with the Canadian-born netminder playing at the top of his game on every single scoring chance.

Radko Gudas took a lot of heat for punching Philadelphia Flyers teammate Claude Giroux in the Czech Republic's contest against Canada on Friday. But on Saturday, he used one of his other teammates to his advantage. At 17:40, Jakub Voracek fed Gudas at the point, with the defenceman firing a hard one-timer off of Alexander Kulakov's stick and in to make it 2-0 before the end of the opening frame.

Belarus recorded just one shot in the first period, but their second shot of the game worked out in their favour. After just 1:13 in the second, Alexander Pavlovich scored after a great pass from Yevgeni Lisovets to the right of the net, with Pavlovich finishing off the passing play on the power play to make it 2-1.

The Czech's completely dominated the chances and it allowed them to take the 3-1 lead. At 35:38, Roman Horak made a pass to Roman Cervenka in front after a bit of hesitation. Cervenka waited just long enough to force Lalande to dive around his crease, only to have the former Calgary Flame pick a high corner and fire it home.

Belarus would go over 20 minutes between their fifth and sixth shot of the game, instead allowing the Czech's to further cement their lead. At 47:26, Voracek sent a pass to Radim Simek at the point, with Simek scoring a similar goal as Gudas to make it 4-1. Then, two minutes later, Voracek got one of his own after picking up the puck after Lalande knocked a David Pastrnak breakaway away, with the Flyers star making it 5-1. Michael Kempny would score with 15 seconds left to cement the 6-1 victory, with the Czech Republic earning their first win of the tournament.

Both teams will get the day off on Sunday before returning to action on Monday. Belarus will look to steal at least one point against Canada while the Czech's will give Finland a run for their money later on.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Tweets by @eurohockey