MOSCOW, April 18 (R-Sport) – Russia staged a rousing 4-3 win over the United States in their opening game of the under-18 world hockey championships in Sochi.
With President Vladimir Putin looking on at the noisy Bolshoi Ice Dome, Igor Kravchuk’s team rallied from an early 2-1 deficit, icing the victory with less than two minutes remaining in the third period on a wobbly shot by Vladimir Tkachyov.
NHL draft prospect Pavel Buchnevich added a goal and an assist for Russia and J.T. Compher did the same for the United States, who entered the 2013 championships looking for their fifth gold medal in a row.
Russian goalie Igor Shestyorkin made 33 saves against the Americans’ lightning-quick attack, which started the scoring at 2:34 of the first period on a power-play goal from Jake Eichel. Defenseman Will Butcher put the U.S. up 2-0 five minute later on another power-play goal when Nikolai Glukhov was nailed for tripping.
Russia tied the game at two early in the second period on Buchnevich’s goal, which came on a power play after Mike McCarron was sent to the box for hooking.
The teams traded points until Tkachyov swiped at a loose puck, knuckling it past U.S. goalie Thatcher Demko. Compher nearly tied the game in the dying seconds when he bounced a shot of the crossbar and into Shestyorkin’s pads. Before Shestyorkin had the puck, though, it appeared to have crossed the goal line, prompting a review upstairs from the referees.
Compher and Buchnevich were named the game’s second and third stars and each received a stuffed animal replica of the Sochi 2014 Olympic mascot, The Polar Bear.
In a speech before the game, Putin called the twin bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday a “heinous crime” before holding a minute of silence.
In other action on Thursday, Canada beat Slovakia 4-1 with goals from Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart. Finland downed Latvia 7-0 and Sweden smacked around Germany 9-1.
The Czech Republic and Latvia face off Friday followed by Switzerland and Slovakia. Russia plays Finland on Saturday.
