Kovalchuk leads Russian hockey team past U.S.
GANGNEUNG, Korea — Former NHL player Ilya Kovalchuk stepped into the Olympic media area and reminded everyone, “I still have gas in my tank.”
Kovalchuk, 34, proved that by scoring a pair of goals to lead the Olympic Athletes from Russia to a 4-0 win against the USA and a bye into the quarterfinals.
“They’re the favorites to win the tournament, right?,” Team USA defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti said. “Obviously they have skilled players out there, guys who have had long careers in the NHL. We weren’t scared of them, we’re still not scared of them.”
Maybe opponents should be. With the NHL players not here, these Games are short on proven scorers. But Russia has a few, including Kovalchuk, who has four goals and five points in three games. Anyone who has watched Kovalchuk over the past two games can see he could still contribute in the NHL.
Wouldn’t he be a nice fit next season for a contender in need of a 20-plus goal scorer?
Coming into the tournament, the Russians were picked to win the gold and they might do it this time. It would be their first since 1992.
The Russians played with considerable passion and drive. The Russians have been a disappointment at recent Olympics, particularly four years ago in their home country when they lost in the quarterfinals.
But this group looks different. They wanted this win. That was clear. Pavel Datsyuk was playing physical. Kovalchuk was trading verbal jabs with Jordan Greenway at points.
Add the skill of Kovalchuk, Datsyuk -even Kirill Kaprizov, Nikita Nesterov and Nikita Gusev, and this is a dangerous team.
“They’re good,” Greenway said. “We expected them to be a good team and they were.”
The Olympic Athletes from Russia are not perfect. Far from it. Their opening loss Slovakia shows that. But what may separate this Russian team is an extra layer of motivation.
Datsyuk wants that Olympic gold, as does Kovalchuk. And you can bet all of the Russian players own some resentment over not being able to technically play for the Russian flag.
“I think we played well,” Kovalchuk said. “We came out strong. We scored first goal. I think our (penalty kill) is special.”
They wanted the bye. They are acting like they have this all planned out. “When you play that extra game, it takes a lot of energy out of you,“Kovalchuk said.
Former Russian and NHL great Igor Larionov is at the Olympics, and he likes what he sees in the Russians over the past two games. “They are starting to play better,” Larionov said.
The Russians have scored 14 goals in three games. By contrast, the Americans have scored four. They were opportunistic against the Americans, another sign of a team coming together. Kovalchuk scored a goal with two-tenths of a second left in the second period. It was like a dagger to the Americans.
It is way too early to say the Olympic Athletes from Russia will march to the gold, but it’s certainly not too early that they may be in a better position to win this time than they were in 2014 when everyone in Russia expected them to win.
The USA will have to win a qualification game on Tuesday just to reach the quarterfinals.