Canada – Russia 4:2 (0:0; 0:2; 4:0)
Cologne // The early final
After a trip to Paris, with the quarter-final game against the Czech Republic (3-0 RUS), the Russians met again in Cologne against the Canadians, who narrowly eliminated the German team 2-1.
It was safe to say that Team Russia had a home game. “Russia, Russia!” and “Scheibu, Scheibu!” echoed through the well-filled but not sold out LANXESS arena, as in previous Russia games. A large part of the 16.469 spectators were fond of the Russian team. It took until the 15th minute of the game when Mark Scheifele received the first penalty, the Russians gained a little advantage, but the North Americans survived unscathed. You had the feeling that nobody wanted to fall behind, they just didn't want to make a mistake. It was an entertaining game in which the Russian players fired eleven shots at Calvin Pickard's goal in the first third. On the other hand, Andrei Vasilevski (Tampa Bay Lightning) was able to save all seven shots.
As the game went on, the game became more open. Yevgeni Kuznetsov broke the spell in the 33rd minute when he was released from the left side so that he only had to push the disc into the empty goal while standing on the right goal circle. The Canadians, weakened again by a foul, even had to accept the 0:2 result. Nikita Gusev ended a dream combination via Vadim Shipachyov and Artem Panarin with his fifth goal of the tournament. The Canadians were able to equalize the shot ratio in the middle period - 12:12, but were behind by two goals.
Canada started the final spurt in the final third with a power play. There were 30 seconds left. 17 seconds had been played when the Canadians struck. Scheifele, with his third goal and eighth point in the World Cup, scored at a psychologically very good time. The game continued to pick up speed and the penalties piled up. In the 56th minute the hall became quiet - the Canadian Nate MacKinnon had grabbed the puck, curved in front of the Russian goal and sunk the black ball into the bottom left corner. From the 57th minute onwards, the Eastern Europeans were Fans even calmer - Ryan O'Reilly had just taken the world champion's first lead. Now Russia had to risk everything and took their goalkeeper off the ice in favor of a sixth attacker. Just under 30 seconds before the end of the game, it was up to Sean Couturier to shoot the target into the empty goal. 4:2! Final!
Mike Matheson (Florida Panthers): “I don’t necessarily know if you can say we played poorly in the first two periods! They simply took advantage of the opportunities we gave them, more or less voluntarily. But we never stuck our heads in the sand! We came into the final third with faith and then we had a little help from our quick goal! ... We watched the whole tournament from game to game and now we're in the final - it doesn't matter who our opponent is, but we'll watch the other semi-final tonight!”
Tore: 0:1 (32:16) Kuznetsov; 0:2 (34:50) Gusev {PP}; 1:2 (40:17) Scheifele {PP}; 2:2 (55:07) MacKinnon; 3:2 (56:58) O'Reilly; 4:2 (58:53) Couturier
Punish: 10 (USA) : 22 (RUS)
spectator: 16.469
Sweden – Finland 4:1 (1:1; 2:0; 1:0)
Cologne // Sweden in the final against Canada
After Canada was confirmed as the first finalist, the all-Scandinavian duel between Sweden and Finland was about to determine the second finalist. You could practically feel the rivalry between the two. After just 109 seconds, the Swedes were leading 1-0 - Alexander Edler of the Vancouver Canucks had converted a beautiful pass from Nicklas Bäckström. The Finns were not shocked by the early deficit, however, and struck back through Kemppainen just three minutes later. The teams went into the dressing room with a 1-1 score that was fair at the time.
In the second third, Harri Sateri couldn't complain about the lack of work in the Finns' goal and the Swedes knew how to convert their superiority into goals. Two power play situations were mercilessly exploited, first by John Klingberg (25th) and then by William Nylander (35th). The score was 3-1 and the final was within reach - 20 minutes were still missing!
It was clear from the Finnish players that they hadn't given up yet. They threw everything forward, but also gave their neighbors the chance to counterattack. But Henrik Lundquist on the Swedes side once again proved to be a master of his craft and the goal at the other end (53:52) came from Joakim Nordström. Final: CANADA – SWEDEN
Dennis Everberg: We stuck to the game plan today. We knew how they would play. They waited for us to make mistakes, but we actually did quite well. Of course, the rivalry between us played a role! As long as I can remember - initially in front of the TV - there was always a special atmosphere at games against Finland. And it will always be that way. ... Tomorrow against Canada will be a lot of fun. It's only one game and a lot can happen. If we stick together like today and stick to the plan, a lot can happen!
Tore: 0:1 (1:49) Noble; 1:1 (4:45) Kemppainen; 2:1 (24:36) Klingberg {PP}; 3:1 (34:52) Nylander {PP}; 4:1 (53:52) Nordstrom
Punish: 6 (SWE) : 10 (FIN)
spectator: 11.242
Text: Ivo Jaschick