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Nonetheless, the towering Viktor Svedberg was out of the lineup. The Swedish-born former member of the Chicago Blackhawks had been averaging 20:15 of ice time per evening, third-highest amongst Kazakh skaters.
“It is a powerful loss with Viktor,” Valk mentioned. “He is an excellent participant, a giant a part of our D corps. Having Darren again is large, clearly. He helps our energy play lots and he is an ideal participant. It is sort of a troublesome commerce off, having one and never the opposite. It will have been good to have them each, however we have to do what we have to do with the fellows we have going ahead. “
The Kazakhs had been coming off a 6-3 loss to defending champion Canada on Thursday. That sport began at 21:30 – somewhat than the initially scheduled begin time of 20:20 – and ended at 23:51. The delay was because of a fireplace on the Helsinki Ice Corridor (Jaahalli) earlier than the early sport, which required an area evacuation and the summoning of emergency workers. The hearth was put out and nobody was injured.
In fact, all of it meant a considerably faster turnaround than anticipated for coach Yuri Mikhailis’s crew.
Slovakia got here out laborious and stormed Shutov’s web. Lower than 4 minutes in, the officers video-reviewed a sequence the place Simon Nemec and Michal Kristof rang the puck off posts in speedy succession, however the disc didn’t cross the road and the sport continued scoreless.
At 12:12, the Slovak followers at Jaahalli went bananas when Kollar opened the scoring. Samuel Takac intercepted an errant Kazakh move in the precise faceoff circle and despatched a beautiful cross-ice move to Koll, who cashed in from the doorstep.
Kazakhstan’s Pavol Akolzin bought beneath Slovakia’s pores and skin with a stiff hit on Milos Roman behind Huska’s web and continued to run round. Kristian Pospisil retaliated with a cross-check by the Slovak bench on the identical sequence and took the sport’s first penalty.
With 4:43 left within the first interval, Kazakhstan evened the rating on that man benefit. Huska stopped Jesse Blacker’s lengthy shot however couldn’t management the rebound and Panyukhov fired it residence with authority.
When Pospisil took a boarding penalty, the Kazakhs exploited their alternative once more. They grabbed a 2-1 lead with 2:01 left within the first interval. Huska surrendered one other juicy rebound off the frenzy, and Shevchenko cannily pounced, lifting a backhander previous the Slovak goalie’s stick aspect.
Kazakh captain Roman Starchenko earned his first level of the match on the play. The 36-year-old veteran is competing in his seventh top-level Worlds. His first one was in 2006 in Latvia.
Within the second, Akolzin’s tough play caught up with him. The Metallurg Magnitogorsk foward was assessed a five-minute main and sport misconduct for charging. It got here on a nasty hit on Jakub Minarik in entrance of the Kazakh bench, which the officers video-reviewed. It proved expensive.
At 9:47, Fehervary tied the rating at 2-2, moving into an enormous blast that tipped off Dietz’s outstretched stick and eluded Shutov.
On the identical five-minute energy play, Kristof fired an impressive stretch move to Liska, who prevented Kazakh backchecking to hurry in alone and tuck a backhand previous the goalie for a 3-2 lead at 13:18.
“I believe that 5 minute PK was sort of a turning level of the sport,” mentioned Valk. “You’ll be able to’t hand over two objectives like that and take a penalty proper afterwards for a penalty shot.”
Slafkovsky electrified the already-jacked Slovak followers when he deked previous a number of defenders on a solo rush and was hooked on the final second, drawing a penalty shot at 14:26. The 18-year-old phenom made no mistake, powering in to beat Shutov excessive to the stick aspect. Slafkovsky raised his hand excessive to salute his supporters.
“It is so nice,” Slafkovsky mentioned of the Slovak followers. “Like, there’s a little probability after which they go loopy. It is so good whenever you hear cheering on your nation, and that feeling when you already know there are extra Slovak followers than the opposite crew has.”
There was no give up within the Kazakhs. At 3:32 of the third, Orekhov’s move from the aspect boards discovered Panyukov within the center, and his stealthy deflection stunned Huska, catching the highest nook to make it 4-3.
However that was as shut as the previous Soviet republic would get, regardless of pulling Shutov for the additional man with a minute and a half left. Considerations about relegation are rising.
“Our compete degree’s there,” Valk mentioned. “Clearly we’re in video games. A whole lot of them have been one-goal video games. However we have to discover a strategy to win. Discover a strategy to rating just a few extra objectives, assist our goalie out a bit. That is sort of the important thing going ahead.”
Slovakia maintained its excellent head-to-head document versus Kazakhstan in World Championship play with its fifth straight win, relationship again to 2005. In Olympic competitors, Kazakhstan edged the Slovaks 4-3 in 1998 in Nagano, however Slovakia retaliated in 2006 in Turin, successful 2-1.
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