GDT: Semifinal - May 25 - Russia vs Finland

[DoubleGold]

Can't we just enjoy this legendary, total clutch/sisu victory? Oh my f***ing god!

 

[Lexus]

"It's like a fairytale."

 

[Murky]

Can't we just enjoy this legendary, total clutch/sisu victory? Oh my ****ing god!

What is stopping you?

 

[Barkkonen]

Juniors 2014 gold & seniors 2014 silver, Juniors 2016 gold & seniors 2016 silver, Juniors 2019 gold & seniors 2019 ?

I see this playing out exactly the same way if Canada advances(which is more than likely), that's why I hope Checz can pull an upset this time so we can break this "curse".

 

[agent082]

Kucherov, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Gusev, Dadonov


On the ice at the end for Russia and couldn't find one. Wow.

It sure sounds like a nightmare to other team.

 

[DoubleGold]

What is stopping you?

No one. I'm drunk and in pure bliss!

 

[ijuka]

Yeah, Anttila showed up as a Captain when needed. But come on, he's not an NHL player except for some special situations, like these two WCH games. During a regular season, he would probably play 5 minutes a game and perhaps something like 2 goals, 5 assists in a full season. And you can find 100 North American players that fulfill that need and have a similar size.

He would be a top 3 player in NHL in terms of height, how do you mean 100 with similar size?

And he scored like 0.4-0.5 PPG in KHL, how do you get 7 points in 82 games in NHL? Also, he parantaa kuin sika juoksuaan as he gets older.

 

[Wings4Life]

Homestly, this Russia team played the best game in their losses vs Finland that I remember. I'll give credit to Vorobyov for that.

No.

Vorobyov is the reason this Russian all-star team scored zero goals against a weak Finland team.

The individual talent of the Russian players kept this game close. Malkin, Gusev, these guys kept it close and were the reason Russia controlled the majority of the play.

Finland were clearly the better-coached team. That is a plus to the Finnish coach and a huge minus to the Russian coach.

Did you notice how badly Russia outplayed Finland when the moron Vorobyev finally changed his lines with 5 minutes left? Finland barely touched the puck after that, it was an immediate, night-and-day type of change.

But 5 minutes of decent coaching is too little, too late.

 

[DoubleGold]

"It's like a fairytale."

Great to see Swedish announcers so excited!

 

[BennsGonnaGetYou]

Great to see Swedish announcers so excited!

Härenstam is a cool dude for sure

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

The relented pressure on the Russian D from the Finnish forechecker's was amazing. Hits were finnished, lot of loose pucks and bounces started ending up on a Finnish player's stick, look at the goal and how it occured, this was pretty much how the entire game unfolded. Russia never made it difficult for Finland and even though their skill earned them opportunities, it was almost as if when Finland was going to get a bounce and score.

 

[Murky]

No.

Vorobyov is the reason this Russian all-star team scored zero goals against a weak Finland team.

The individual talent of the Russian players kept this game close. Malkin, Gusev, these guys kept it close and were the reason Russia controlled the majority of the play.

Finland were clearly the better-coached team. That is a plus to the Finnish coach and a huge minus to the Russian coach.

Did you notice how badly Russia outplayed Finland when the moron Vorobyev finally changed his lines with 5 minutes left? Finland barely touched the puck after that, it was an immediate, night-and-day type of change.

But 5 minutes of decent coaching is too little, too late.

The last ten - not five - minutes were all on Finnish coach for telling his guys to stop skating and passing and collapse instead. Finns did everything wrong in the last ten minutes and it started right from the face off after the goal. Finns had nothing on Russia - nothing except the effort and grit and they gave it up for the second half of the third.

 

[Sentinel]

All those who said that Russia was the overwhelming favorite throughout this tournament only focused on their 3 "superstar" offensive talents (Ovechkin, Malkin, Kucherov), and didn't look at all at Nesterov, Khaifizullin, Zadorov, and Zaitsev. Aside from Kaprizov, who was a monster when it counted, the overall talent level on the roster is actually fairly modest. Overall, they just lacked the hunger, toughness and discipline that the Finns show, which is why the Finns so often beat them.

Some will blame the coach, but he actually did a better job defensively than Znarok. especially considering the sparse defensive talent he had to work with. What Russia counted on was that one of the best goal scorers in NHL history would deliver when most needed, and that didn't happen. Sorry to bust your theory, Atas, but I didn't see much of the Ovechkin speed that you talked about (you will no doubt post some videos from 2007 showing him flying). He deserves respect for showing up and working hard, but he was a total non-factor in this game and really, the whole tournament.

The Russian roster is about half NHL and half KHL, and that combination just doesn't work very well, from what I can see. Part of it is unfamiliarity, but they just seem to lack the nationalist fervor that some teams like Finland and Canada exhibit. They didn't play badly, but to be shut out in a Semifinal match is embarrassing. I would guess a Finland-Canada match, and I will be cheering for Finland.

That's a lot of words to explain a very pathetic performance.

Btw, Ovechkin was not that bad, he had several moments but no puck luck. All other stars OTOH...

 

[sooni]

Oilers taking Jalonen as Coach?

 

[Chimpradamus]

Great to see Swedish announcers so excited!

Yeah, I think you can tune down the Swedish arrogance of Finland and Finnish people. Just ignore the idiots living in and around Stockholm, who are the huge, ignorant majority in social media and the media. Heck, they're arrogant of anyone living outside of that garbage city. A good solution would be to wall off the entire city, wait until all the screams tune out and then tear the wall down. It should only take a couple of hours. A lot of problems would be solved.

 

[Star Ocean]

Nylander to win whc scoring title atleast

 

[Jussi]

No.

Vorobyov is the reason this Russian all-star team scored zero goals against a weak Finland team.

The individual talent of the Russian players kept this game close. Malkin, Gusev, these guys kept it close and were the reason Russia controlled the majority of the play.

Finland were clearly the better-coached team. That is a plus to the Finnish coach and a huge minus to the Russian coach.

Did you notice how badly Russia outplayed Finland when the moron Vorobyev finally changed his lines with 5 minutes left? Finland barely touched the puck after that, it was an immediate, night-and-day type of change.

But 5 minutes of decent coaching is too little, too late.

We never play well with a lead with 5 minutes or even more left. That's more Finland being Finland than Russia being good. Playing passive with a lead late in the game is in our genes.

 

[ijuka]

That's a lot of words to explain a very pathetic performance.

Btw, Ovechkin was not that bad, he had several moments but no puck luck. All other stars OTOH...

Ovechkin 3 points in 9 games surrounded by super stars, "no puck luck", sure. He was terrible here, as he was in 2016.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

"It's like a fairytale."

Haha that's pretty cool!

 

[Ukkosenjumala]

Agree.

But what did Anttila do to warrant a shot at a bottom 6 job in the NHL? If I'm not mistaken he now has 2G in 9 games in this tournament. He pumped in a rebound today. Sorry I didn't watch all Finland games maybe he blocked a lot of shots, had a crazy FO%, or is the spiritual leader of the squad?
He's got NHL size, but has been putting up <20 points the last 5 years.

Take a look @ Jiri Dopita. Also over 6' good European player. He led his league in scoring at age 28, then again at age 30, he then put up a 30 goal season and was picked up by Philly. He plays ok (only ok), then is dealt to Edmonton which is a disaster. At age 35 he goes back to Czech.

I would argue it's just logistics, culture, and style why the NHL teams favor AHL players. They can scout these guys playing on the same size rink in a very tough and physical league. I would say it doesn't matter if the player is American, Finnish, or Japanese. What matters is they are in North America playing in the AHL or not. The bottom 6 should play tough and be reliable.
Maybe an elite NHL European Scouting staff could pick up quality bottom 6 older guys out of Europe, but right now no one's doing it. It's also the case some Europeans struggle with integration and go back home (even look at young Jesse Puljujärvi right now or arguably Laine).
imo it's still the case if a guy like Anttila wanted to crack the NHL he should have gone for something like a 5 year grind in the AHL in his 20's.

Maybe Anttila is a bit of stretch, then again there's alot of players in the NHL who don't produce any points and haven't for a long time.

I did expand my thoughts in my second post on the subject, AHL is part of it like you said, they're right there. It's what I mean by them "hanging around" the system, it's easier to call up some guys from the AHL logisticly and teams usually have had their eyes on them. However the AHL isn't a good league, there's a ton of players in the european leagues, who are european who weren't good enough when they were in their teens but would most likely be better than whoever the teams are using in their 4th line or bottom pairings or even 3rd lines.

 

[Jussi]

Great to see Swedish announcers so excited!

Despite Sweden not playing for gold I think SVT has been very pleased about getting the Worlds back. Finnish media had a story on their broadcasting team at the Worlds and how great the ratings were for the Finland-Denmark game even.

 

[bar1]

The last ten - not five - minutes were all on Finnish coach for telling his guys to stop skating and passing and collapse instead. Finns did everything wrong in the last ten minutes and it started right from the face off after the goal. Finns had nothing on Russia - nothing except the effort and grit and they gave it up for the second half of the third.

No. It just is so in the game of hockey when you are one down/up on a deciding game. It's just how it goes and even this tournament has proven it a dozen times already.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Ovechkin can no longer create much on his own, he needs a genuine set up man, he'll have the odd rush with his career defining move go his way but he's way past his time now and when he plays with Russia on the big ice he's easier to contain. Malkin was disappointing, didn't see him play all year but yah, he's going downhill also now. Shame, Russian Hockey's golden generation of players are slowing drifting away to the sunset, how many times will we see these player still play at this tourney.

 

[SaltNPeca]

Oilers taking Jalonen as Coach?

Can he turn Poolparty into a 1st line winger?
Or wait, do you mean this is the way the Oilers, with non NHL talent, can actually put up a winning season?

 

[Ukkosenjumala]

Yeah, Anttila showed up as a Captain when needed. But come on, he's not an NHL player except for some special situations, like these two WCH games. During a regular season, he would probably play 5 minutes a game and perhaps something like 2 goals, 5 assists in a full season. And you can find 100 North American players that fulfill that need and have a similar size.

Anttila wasn't my main point. Still tho, there's players in the NHL who are below replacement level who do play very little and have virtually no points in a full season. It's just that when they do get replaced, they always go to AHL. Which is understandable but there IS alot of european players who never get a look and that's my point.