Czechs Avoids Russian Comeback to Begin World Juniors With a Win

The first game of the 2018 World Juniors in Buffalo, New York has seen the Czech Republic beat the favored Russian junior team 5-4 to open up the event.

The Czechs wasted no time putting themselves in the lead over the favoured Russians. At 4:42 on the power play, Carolina Hurricanes prospect Martin Necas got the first goal of the World Juniors with a power play one-timer, taking Martin Kaut's pass from the side of the net before one-timing the disk into the back of the net.

Less than a minute later, Russia got one back. Alexei Polodyan would tip Andrei Altybarmakyan’s shot from above the left face off circle, beating Josef Korenar high glove to tie the battle up at one.

The two teams would combine for four goals before the first period was even ten minutes old. At 7:28, Ostap Safin took advantage of a bouncing puck from a Filip Chytil bounce, knocking it past an unsuspecting Alexei Melnichuk to make it 2-1 Czechs.

The Russians, of course, didn’t want to back down. Two minutes after surrendering the lead, Marsel Sholokhov found himself standing alone in front of the net, performing a spin-o-rama before backhanding it over Korenar and in for the 2-2 goal just seconds before the game hit the halfway point.

The Czechs didn’t shoot much in the first half, taking just five shots in the first. On the team’s seventh shot, the Czechs took their lead back after third-ranked NHL Draft prospect Filip Zadina grabbed the puck while standing all alone off of a nice set-up from Kau, waiting a split second before beating Melnichuk for the 3-2 goal.

The Czechs were one of the most intriguing teams to follow prior to the tournament. A 9-0 loss to Canada in the pre-tournament wasn’t a good indication of their skill, with most of the team’s stars coming from the Hlinka Memorial-winning team two years ago. Heading into the second intermission, the team found themselves up by two after Filip Chytil jammed home the rebound after Safin got the puck in front, with Chytil just poking it past a fallen Melnichuk to make it 4-2.

Offensively, Kaut was having himself a night. At 6:16 in the second, with the Czechs controlling the puck, Kaut's shot would get tipped in front by Filip Král, who would beat new Russian netminder Vladislav Sukhachev, giving the Czechs the commanding 5-2 advantage. It would be Kaut’s third assist of the night, making him one of the best players in the first game of the tournament. Artur Kayumov and Vladislav Syomin would score one each as time ran down, but the Czechs, who haven't won gold since 2000, held on for the first victory of the World Juniors.

Both teams will be sitting Wednesday out before the Russians battle Switzerland at the HarborCenter at 2PM ET on Thursday. The Czechs will look for their second win later that day, facing off against Sweden at 4:00 PM at the KeyBank Center.

Photo from Anders Marshall/Euro Hockey

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