Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, center Evgeny Kuznetsov, and defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s hopes of winning the IIHF World Championships were shut down on Saturday when Finland came on top in a 1-0 victory over Russia in the Semifinal. Finland will play the winner of the game between the Czech Republic and Canada, which is at 1 PM ET on Saturday, in the Gold Medal game on Monday. Russia will get the loser of Canada-Czech Republic in the Bronze Medal game on Sunday at 9:45 AM ET.
Finland led 32-29 in shots for the game.
The game was scoreless until Finn captain Marko Anttila scored through the five-hole of Tampa Bay Lightning and Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on a rebound after Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Henri Jokiharju’s point shot was thwarted by Vasilevskiy with 9:42 left in regulation.
What a goal from Anttila to get @leijonat on the board, and the 1-0 lead #RUSFIN #IIHFWorlds
Watch the highlights at https://t.co/UN4KhitcC3 pic.twitter.com/k7M0DyAdTl
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 25, 2019
Ovechkin had a good chance to open the scoring for the Russians on a breakaway in the first period but was robbed by Finn goaltender Kevin Lankinen with the glove.
Check out that windmill from Lankinen 👀 @leijonat #RUSFIN #IIHFWorlds Watch the best plays at https://t.co/UN4KhitcC3 pic.twitter.com/doKI1tF4mX
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 25, 2019
Orlov spoke to the media after the loss:
Orlov discusses the emotions of such a close loss for @russiahockey #RUSFIN #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/0REb7hDd4S
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 25, 2019
By Harrison Brown
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