GDT: Russia Vs USA - 12/25 - 9:30 PM ET - TSN/NHLN

[KidLine93]

Impressed with Caufield, Boldy and Zegras (quiet for a bit but made some high skill plays that caught my attention). Thought Turcotte played poorly. This group of americans will be exciting to watch the rest of the tournament though.

 

[ORRFForever]

Which does not change the fact Knight played terrible

Just give credit to Russia for playing well.

 

[snipes]

Who will be in US net as starter tomorrow?

If they think Knight is their guy, then you have to give him a chance to bounce back.

If it was a bit up in the air and nothing settled, Wolf no doubt.

 

[Yakushev72]

Credit to the USA for refusing to stop fighting. I could easily have seen them getting a 4th goal late in the Third, and taking it to overtime. The 1st period was even, and the US won the third, but Russia was dominant enough in the 2nd to build a three-goal lead and survive! I thought the US won the physical battles in the Russian zone in the 3rd period and created a lot of loose puck scrambles in front of the net. Askarov reminded me of last year when he had to be pulled and benched a few times because he couldn't keep the puck out of the net on long screen shots. Russia showed some really outstanding play tonight, but they have a lot of things to fix if they are going to challenge for the top podium.

 

[Sean Garrity]

No coach blaming, please. Russia looked terrific.

He didn't coach blame, he said Igor out-coached Leaman and I think he's 100% correct. Now there were other concerns, but it was quite clear that Leaman was swimming trying to counter the system that Igor has put in place.

 

[Sasso09]

And Russia was the better team.

Why are you harassing everyone right now? It's kind of odd

 

[Passionis]

I did not watch the game but it seems Russia once again had to play against the refs too? Russia had 8 penalty minutes while Usa only had two with many Us cheapshots going uncalled. And one Us goal was goalie interference.

Nah.. They deserved the 8 min. I thought the refs did a decent job.

 

[Sean Garrity]

If they think Knight is their guy, then you have to give him a chance to bounce back.

If it was a bit up in the air and nothing settled, Wolf no doubt.

Basically this. If Knight is "their guy", then you have to give him the opportunity to bounce back. If they're not sold on him being their guy then it has to be Wolf.

 

[Sasso09]

He didn't coach blame, he said Igor out-coached Leaman and I think he's 100% correct. Now there were other concerns, but it was quite clear that Leaman was swimming trying to counter the system that Igor has put in place.

Exactly what I was saying. RUSSIA played a very structured game that limited mistakes, US made a ton of glaring mistakes and were running around out of position a lot.

 

[tenken00]

Wolf has been rock solid and would be the likely starter for any country but these two. Hard decision for US brass now, go back to Knight who has been shaky or stick with the 19 year old Wolf who has outplayed him in two straight games and has a solid pedigree himself.

I see them going back with Knight tomorrow to see if he can bounce back against a weaker opponent in Austria but have a quick hook. If it was against someone else, it would be a much harder choice.

 

[ViD]

I did not watch the game but it seems Russia once again had to play against the refs too? Russia had 8 penalty minutes while Usa only had two with many Us cheapshots going uncalled. And one Us goal was goalie interference.

Most of the Russian penalties were undisputed - accidental high stick or a stick inside a skate.

I felt the US should have gotten a penalty for a late hit on Podkolzin though

 

[ORRFForever]

Why are you harassing everyone right now? It's kind of odd

Whatever.

 

[NyQuil]

You get the feeling that the team that puts it together the fastest could end up winning the whole thing.

I wonder how long it's going to take.

 

[Kshahdoo]

I did not watch the game but it seems Russia once again had to play against the refs too? Russia had 8 penalty minutes while Usa only had two with many Us cheapshots going uncalled. And one Us goal was goalie interference.

Nah, penalties were legit, and the last one from Safonov was especiaally stupid and gave Americans 6 vs 4 PP 3 min left.

 

[Passionis]

Credit to the USA for refusing to stop fighting. I could easily have seen them getting a 4th goal late in the Third, and taking it to overtime. The 1st period was even, and the US won the third, but Russia was dominant enough in the 2nd to build a three-goal lead and survive! I thought the US won the physical battles in the Russian zone in the 3rd period and created a lot of loose puck scrambles in front of the net. Askarov reminded me of last year when he had to be pulled and benched a few times because he couldn't keep the puck out of the net on long screen shots. Russia showed some really outstanding play tonight, but they have a lot of things to fix if they are going to challenge for the top podium.

Agreed, surprisingly Askarov was the biggest concern tonight. Giving up very juicy rebounds and generally flopping around - opposite of confidence inspiring.

Considering I've seen him dominate games before, I'm starting to think that he caves pretty bad under real pressure.

 

[snipes]

I did not watch the game but it seems Russia once again had to play against the refs too? Russia had 8 penalty minutes while Usa only had two with many Us cheapshots going uncalled. And one Us goal was goalie interference.

The Russian penalties were pretty blatant and obvious.

They had two offensive zone tripping penalties off the top of my head that were pretty clearcut obvious calls in any leagues.

Refs kind of put the whistles away more than anything and just let them play.

 

[ORRFForever]

Nah.. They deserved the 8 min. I thought the refs did a decent job.

I don't have a problem with the calls. The Russians play a high risk/high reward kinda game.

 

[ViD]

Does anyone have face off stats? It seemed that Russia might have won more face offs which would be mightily impressive

 

[ORRFForever]

The Russian penalties were pretty blatant and obvious.

They had two offensive zone tripping penalties off the top of my head that were pretty clearcut obvious calls in any leagues.

Refs kind of put the whistles away more than anything and just let them play.

Yup. I have no complaints with the refs.

 

[Passionis]

Russia needs to:
-fix their discipline.
-Askarov has to get confident
-improve their PP.

I'd they don't do this, I think Gold is not realistic.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Just give credit to Russia for playing well.

LOL Look at all my posts in this thread, I have said time after time how good they looked and how big and fast they are. The US still got bad goaltending, both can be true

 

[bsu]

I dont think many us of are giving russia enough credit. They had a great game plan win faceoffs and keep the puck until usas best players got off the ice.

 

[ORRFForever]

Russia needs to:
-fix their discipline.
-Askarov has to get confident
-improve their PP.

I'd they don't do this, I think Gold is not realistic.

Agree with everything but #2. I think Askarov is too confident.

 

[NyQuil]

Does anyone have face off stats? It seemed that Russia might have won more face offs which would be mightily impressive

Someone in the US roster thread had the Russians at 61% and the US at 39%.

 

[Sean Garrity]

You get the feeling that the team that puts it together the fastest could end up winning the whole thing.

I wonder how long it's going to take.

I mean, seems to me like Russia is the closest to putting it together if they haven't already. I thought they were the better team against Canada, and they clearly were better against the US tonight. Super impressed by Russia so far.