Russia Shocks Canada With Five Unanswered Goals, Wins Gold Medal At 2011 World Juniors

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Artemi Panarin has given the Russians their first lead of this gold medal game and it came with five minutes left in the third period. Panarin’s second goal of the game was assisted by Vladimir Tarasenko and Denis Golubev came with 4:38 left in the third period and ultimately ended up as the game winner in a 5-3 victory over the shell shocked Canadians. Nikita Dvurechenski scored at the 18:44 mark to ice the game for the Russians who scored their first gold medal since 2003.

The Canadians had a 3-0 lead heading into the third period and the Russians rattled off five unanswered goals in the third period to take the 5-3 lead. Igor Bobkov was the player of the game for the Russians, stopping all 20 shots he faced after Dmitri Shikin was pulled in the second period. Canadian goaltender Mark Visentin broke down in the third period of this game, allowing five goals on ten shots in the third period.

After being injured at the end of the second period from taking a Marcus Foligno skate to the head, Vladimir Tarasenko has tied the World Championship Gold Medal Game at three. The goal came at the 7:29 mark of the third period, assisted by Yevgeni Kuznetsov. It gives the Russians three goals in 4:27 after being down 3-0 to start the third period

While Mark Visentin has had a good save percentage throughout the tournament, he had had some moments of shaky play and that has come to light in this third period. The Russians are starting to put the puck on net and Visentin is showing moments of that shaky play during this period. The Canadians have played the third period back on their heels, trying to preserve a lead and instead have found themselves with a tied game.

Brayden Schenn is having a really good World Junior Championship. His eighth goal of the tournament has given Canada a 3-0 lead at the 6:27 mark in the second period. Schenn’s 18th tournament point has tied Dale McCourt for the Canadian record for most points by a Canadian in the tournament. His goal was assisted by Marcus Foligno.

The Russians will now just try and survive this game with new goaltender Igor Bobkov, replacing Dmitri Shikin who allowed three goals on 18 shots. The Canadians look like the far superior team with three goals and only one penalty while the Russians have taken three penalties thus far into the game.

Carter Ashton gives the Canadians a 2-0 with 14 seconds left to go in the first period which could be the early nail in the coffin for the Russians if they don’t find the back of the net soon. Assists on the goal come from Louis Leblanc.

The Canadians finished the period outshooting the Russians 14-8 and overall look like the better team at the moment. This game feels eerily similar to the USA/Canada game in which we were saying that the Americans needed to find the net quickly and the Russians will need to do that as well if they are looking to keep themselves in the game.

Ryan Eliis gets the scoring started for the Canadians on the powerplay 4:50 into the first period. Ellis has been the star defenseman of the tournament for the Canadians with his now leading 10th point of the tournament. Assists were recorded by Brayden Schenn and Calvin De Haan.

The Canadians look exactly like they did against the Americans on Monday night as they have taken their physical presence to the Russians with the game spending most of the time in Canadian offensive zone. Russian goaltender Dmitri Shikin is making some nice saves to keep the Russians in the game.

The United States broke Canada’s five year gold medal streak at the Under 20 World Championships last year, but Canada is looking to start a new streak in Buffalo against Russia. Canada is coming into this game already having defeated the Russians on the first day of the tournament, 6-3. In that game, six different scorers scored for the Canadians and Oliver Roy got the win.

While this matchup isn’t as big as the Canada/USA semifinal matchup wise, expect the Canadians to come out strong in the home away from home known as the HSBC Arena. Game time is 7:30 pm and can be found on TSN in Canada and NHL Network in the US.