Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

The Buzzer: Gold for Russia (OAR), goalie interference fun

russia olympic

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 25: Gold medal winners Olympic Athletes from Russia celebrate after defeating Germany 4-3 in overtime during the Men’s Gold Medal Game on day sixteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Hockey Centre on February 25, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Be sure to visit NBCOlympics.com and NBC Olympic Talk for full hockey coverage from PyeongChang.

Russia (O.A.R.) wins gold in overtime against Germany

Germany was an overtime goal away from a huge upset (note: miracle is loosely translated as “wunder” in German). Instead the Olympic Athletes of Russia will take their clunky name to a redemptive gold medal after beating Germany 4-3 in overtime thanks to a power-play goal.

With memorable moments like Ilya Kovalchuk being shut down on a heart-stopping semi-breakaway chance in OT, two Russian forwards were especially deadly.

Kirill Kaprizov scored “the golden goal” on that power play after racking up three assists during regulation. His partner-in-crime was Nikita Gusev, who generated two goals and two assists of his own.

Kovalchuk finally got a taste of Olympic glory, while Pavel Datsyuk joins the “Triple Gold Club.”

Ice Hockey - Winter Olympics Day 16

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 25: Gold medal winner Ilya Kovalchuk #71 of Olympic Athlete from Russia celebrates after scoring a goal in overtime to defeat Germany 4-3 during the Men’s Gold Medal Game on day sixteen of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Hockey Centre on February 25, 2018 in Gangneung, South Korea. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Quite a tournament for Kaprizov, Gusev, and a certain Nashville Predators prospect named Eeli Tolvanen (more on him here).

Players of the Night


  • No Auston Matthews? The Maple Leafs wouldn’t respond “No problem,” but they might note that it gives other players a chance to step up. Lately, Mitch Marner has been on an absolute tear. He played a huge role in Toronto’s 4-3 win against Boston on Saturday, getting involved in all four goals (one goal, three assists).

This burst pushes Marner past Matthews for the team lead in scoring with 51 points. The splendid scorer has 14 points during an eight-game tear.


  • The Washington Capitals took care of business against the Sabres on Saturday, and Evgeny Kuznetsov led the charge with one goal and three assists of his own. He had been quiet before this outburst, only managing a goal in his previous five games. Kuznetsov has 59 points in 62 games this season.

So much goalie interference review fun

The Maple Leafs beat the Bruins after a goalie interference review went their way, which you can read more about here. The Oilers ended up holding off a mad Kings rally because of another really weird one. Ah, the NHL must love all the attention these nightmares are generating.

Highlight of the Night

A patently ridiculous save by Andrei Vasilevskiy:

Factoids

Taylor Hall cannot be stopped, and this time it even translated to a win for the Devils against the Islanders:

The team success hasn’t been there as much lately for Henrik Zetterberg, but he’s climbing some lofty heights from an individual standpoint:

Patrik Laine turns 20 on April 19, by the way.

Scores

Flyers 5, Senators 3
Flames 5, Avalanche 1
Jets 5, Stars 3
Maple Leafs 4, Bruins 3
Lightning 4, Canadiens 3 (SO)
Red Wings 3, Hurricanes 1
Panthers 6, Penguins 5
Capitals 5, Sabres 1
Blue Jackets 3, Blackhawks 2
Devils 2, Islanders 1
Coyotes 2, Ducks 0
Oilers 4, Kings 3


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.