Team Canada’s hopes of winning gold at the World Championships once again came to an end thanks to Team Russia. Once again it would be a familiar face ending Canada’s hopes. Last year it was Ilya Kovalchuk assisting on three goals in a 4-0 Russia win over Canada. This year, Kovalchuk was casting the dagger himself scoring the game-winning goal himself with under eight minutes to play in the third to give Russia a 2-1 win in the quarterfinals.
Canada got out to a 1-0 lead in the first period thanks to a goal from Jason Spezza and while Canada dominated the game, Russia struck quickly in the third period thanks to goals just over three minutes apart by Alexei Kaigorodov with a shorthanded effort and then Kovalchuk’s tally after that.
Russia managed to get just four shots on goal in the third period but scored on two of them on Kings goalie Jonathan Bernier. Canada outshot Russia 37-20 in the game but Russian goalie Konstantin Barulin stood tall stopping 36 shots to get the win and give Russia a shot at a medal as they’ve landed in the semifinals to face Finland.
Here’s the highlights from Canada’s loss to Russia.