NO LOVE FROM RUSSIA
U.S. men’s hockey blanked by Ilya Kovalchuck and OAR, must win qualification game to make medal round
OA RUSSIA 4 USA 0
GANGNEUNG, South Korea — U.S. men’s hockey coach Tony Granato insisted his team’s 4-0 loss to the Olympic Athletes From Russia on Saturday wasn’t as bad as the final tally suggested, that the Americans had played well but were unlucky that they couldn’t put away their many scoring chances, especially in the second period of a chippy, emotion-filled game at Gangneung Arena.
“I thought it was a great game. I don’t think it was a 4-0 game, though that’s what the scoreboard says,” Granato said. “It went back and forth at a pretty good pace. It was an NHL pace, that’s for sure.”
The loss dropped the Americans to third place after preliminary-round play in Group B and consigned them to a playoff qualification game on Tuesday. Their opponent will be determined by the final preliminary-round games involving Groups A and C on Sunday. The Olympic Athletes From Russia, the two other group winners, and the team with the best second-place record will advance directly to the quarterfinals.
“When your back’s against the wall I hope we’re going to show our best,” U.S. goaltender Ryan Zapolski said.
The U.S. couldn’t find a way to beat Russia goalie Vassili Koshechkin, who made 29 saves. Their chances in the second period included a four-on-three power play and a breakaway by Brian Gionta, but the Russians held them off and then deflated them by taking a 3-0 lead with two-tenths of a second left in the period on a blistering shot from the right circle by former NHL 50-goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk.
Russia’s first two goals were scored by left wing Nikolai Prokhorkin, who was drafted by the Kings in 2012 and played eight games for their farm team in Manchester, N.H., in 2012-13 but returned to Russia to honor a contract he had signed there. He’s still on the Kings’ reserve list.
Players from SKA Saint Petersburg and CSKA Moscow own all but two spots on the Russian roster, creating cohesiveness that can be important in a tournament like this. “I think their chemistry is hard to match,” said Ryan Donato, one of four college players on the U.S. team. “They always know where each other are.”
That was true on Prokhorkin’s first goal, which he scored from close range on a fine feed at 7:21 of the first period. He also scored on a wrist shot from the left circle at 2:14 of the second period. Prokhorkin said - in English - that he didn’t speak enough English to talk to reporters. Kovalchuk, who spent 11 seasons in the NHL, had no such limitation.
“I think we played well. We came out strong. Our goalie made some great saves and I think our PK (penalty killing) was special tonight,” Kovalchuk said. “It’s always special to play North American teams. You know they will always show up.”
Granato was angry when Russia coach Oleg Znarok put out his big guns for a late power play while holding a 4-0 lead, but it wasn’t completely outlandish because goal differential can be crucial in determining playoff seeding. The best way for the U.S. to have avoided that would have been to not fall so far behind.