Why is Finland so tough opponent for Russia?

[Flair Hay]

At risk of being a stereotyper I'm going to go with Finland plays a much better team game than Russia. Especially when it comes to their own end.

 

[WMT]

Not to slight Finland but every team is pretty tough for Russia. They don't win anything major.

What is major? Best against best? Then the only two teams that won something are Canada and Sweden. Any other team won Olympic Games recently? Finland won? When?

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

It's not a question of effort for Russia. They try their hardest to be successful, but some things fail them in the end.

Their porous defense hinders their counter attacking potential. Many players lack chemistry with each other and it's hard to make a Russian line that meshes well. Panarin-Shipachyov-Dadonov is an exception, because these 3 used to play on the same team. Other than that, it's a collection of talented forwards with average to mediocre Dmen. The goalies are good though.

Their system doesn't accommodate every player's strengths. They all want to have the puck on their sticks because they're used to carrying the play in the offensive zone for their respective clubs. Those Russian forwards are often the best or second best forwards in their respective clubs. The best example of this is the Ovechkin-Malkin combination. They are terrible together because they both want to have the puck and neither player is willing to be the other's second.

This is among the many issues that the Russian teams have, but they will have a solid defense in a few years from now. I hope this can cure what ails them in international competition.

 

[sdf]

When Russia is alright, Finland isn't that tough opponent, and when Russia sucks, almost any team is tough for us.

So simple?

 

[Mestaruus]

"Leaders" never show up.

I fully expect Ovechkin-Malkin-Tarasenko line to be formed to save the day and play the last 5 minutes of every match.

I wonder who is the home team in that game. If Finland is we'll put Komarov on the job and it's game over .

Good teams that are committed to defense can totally shut down the Finns' offense, but Russia isn't one of those teams.

That's right. Canada mainly and Sweden sometimes.

 

[PsychoDad]

Russia will naturally struggle against well prepared team-first mentality teams.
Russias NHL stars rarely show any chemistry with each other, rely too much on individual effort, and don't have much respect for the coaching stuff. And the defense is probably the worst ever by far.

 

[Lempo]

I sometimes feel like a school yard bully when Finns manage to find one of the Russian superstars on an off-day and shamelessly set on to capitalize on that. Especially as it often doesn't seem to be an option for the Russian coach to not play the said superstar for the whole of the last five minutes if Finns are in the lead.

It's a bit like the Finnish procurement for public sector computer systems: the end result might be much better and cheaper if you went with a smaller supplier, but there may be a slight risk whereas "no one ever got fired for choosing T****". You could perhaps win the game if you benched the superstar, but you really don't want to be the coach explaining the benching of the superstar after the game if you didn't win.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

Because Pavel Bure retired...

 

[sdf]

Because Pavel Bure retired...

What when??? I thought he will play today

 

[Gsus]

Because Finland plays as a team, Russia more as individuals. I hope Finland can find some kind of hybrid when we have this highly skilled guys coming to our National team (Laine, Pulju, Rantanen etc.). Finland has been lacking the skill against top countries, so that has had an impact on the team system. If they just can keep the Sisu level or whatever the thing is, with more skilled team they could be on top of the world some day.

Finland against Russia is always a heated rivalry. One of the best national team rivalries out there with USA-Canada.

 

[ijuka]

Because Russia always loses their cool against Finland whereas Finland's attitude is much more confident.

Finland is like Russia's ultimate counter.


We can usually have faith in Russia having these guys like Ovechkin, Radulov, Kovalchuk etc. who always lose it when playing vs Finland.

 

[BB88]

Russia has immense skill, but lacks system and team effort.

Finland has mediocer skill but has immense team effort and a great system.

Rus-Fin games always seem to be Team vs Skill.

 

[Atas2000]

I was thinking about our opponents in our group. North America, Sweden and Russia. They are all world class and this group feels frankly unfair. But intuitively Russia feels the most beatable, even with their stacked forwards. This is no doubt influenced by Finland's good record against Russia in recent international tournaments. As best-on-best is only played every four years, there's no statistically meaningful sample size for that. Still, the two times these teams met in the last 10 years, Finland took both games. 2006 in Torino semifinals Finland won 4-0. In Sochi two years ago, Finland won the quarterfinal 3-1. In World Championships these teams always play competitive games and the results have been very evenly split.

On paper, Russia always has advantage. Why do you think Finland does so well against them? Is it the coaching and well-organized team play? Tight team defense and great goalies? Why does Finnish game plan work so well especially against Russia?

Okay, you have all the false narratives about finnish hockey and Finns playing against Russians in your post.

They are all false. It is just concidence. Finnland has good teams, Russia isn't exactly in good shape lately. Why should Russiand always beat Finns? There is no sch thnig as on paper advantage unless the gap is huge and it is not between Russa and Finnland.

 

[Loffer]

Okay, you have all the false narratives about finnish hockey and Finns playing against Russians in your post.

They are all false. It is just concidence. Finnland has good teams, Russia isn't exactly in good shape lately. Why should Russiand always beat Finns? There is no sch thnig as on paper advantage unless the gap is huge and it is not between Russa and Finnland.

Quite right, quantity wise, at least; some 23 guys in each roster. There was a time things were not this fair and equal. LOL

 

[zantiubraun]

When Malkin plays Finland usually loses . Except last olympics. 2012 wch looked like Malkin beat the finns alone.

 

[trick9]

Coaching.

I don't think Team Russia responds well when they are frustrated early in games. Their recent coaches have been unable to adapt their tactics when that happens.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Cause the Russians play extremely individualistic and the Finns play as one.

Hard work > Skill

 

[PsychoDad]

Cause the Russians play extremely individualistic and the Finns play as one.

Hard work > Skill

You get skill by doing hard work. Russians are not genetically predisposed to have good stickhandling, you know. Its acting as a unit that they lack.

 

[613Leafer]

Because this isn't pond hockey and team defence is actually important.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Ovechkin being a black hole for Russia against us seems like a recurring theme honestly.

I might be only half-joking though.

You might think they haven't defended as well, or our goalies have stolen games etc. but it's not that. Whenever we play against Russia we don't get a whole lot of grade A chances, but for some reason manage to capitalize better than against other big countries. Our boys give it their 110%, where as Russia is trying to bang their heads against a wall and lose their cool. Their forwards just don't seem to stick with it and be creative as a group whenever they play against us. But the times they have though, we've got destroyed.

For us Russia is a big rival. I would argue it's a more passionate rivalry than against Sweden nowdays. Im not sure how it happened. Im not sure if Russia quite feels that way though. So i guess you could say we just want it more.

 

[CornKicker]

finland traditionally plays a defensive first style that stymies any offence from the other side. they do not give up chances. Russia is an offence driven team and they take risks to attack that a counter attack team like Finland can capitalize on.

Finland is going to give team NA the biggest challenge imo and the russia/NA game will be great to watch as a fan.

 

[psycho_dad*]

Russia needs to get a coach from somewhere else. Someone who understands team work and modern hockey. There are plenty of Finnish coaches around who have won medals in olympics and world championships with a worse roster than Russia. You could go Canadian or Swedish too.

But they are too proud for that I think.

 

[Firsov99]

Can't wait until Ukraine gets back in the hockey scene.

Ukraine can't get back on the hockey scene, because it NEVER was on the hockey scene. Its hockey system (which has Russian roots) practically ceased to exist after the break up of the USSR. Hockey is simply not popular in Ukraine, and no one, in one's right mind, will invest in the Ukrainian hockey in the near future.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Historically, Finland doesn't give you a lot of time and space. That doesn't favor the individualist style of the Russians.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

If Russia had Jukka Jalonen they could go far.