In a battle for first place in Group A at the Winter Olympics, the United States needed four shootout goals by T.J. Oshie over eight rounds to defeat the Russians 3-2. Pavel Datsyuk had two goals for Russia and added another in the shootout, but it wasn’t enough.
1st Period
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Oh hey, these teams really don’t like each other. After the USA got a good shot off on Sergei Bobrovsky, a scrum broke out in front of his net. Highlighting it was the American Ryan Callahan and Russian Yevgeni Medvedev getting into each others faces and exchanging what can only be described as crude words.
With Blake Wheeler in the penalty box for tripping, Team USA got a look at the Russian powerplay. However, Russia’s most dangerous opportunity came off an Alexander Ovechkin point shot that deflected and hit the referee in the nether regions. Ouch!
One of the highlights of the first period:
Emelin and Pacioretty jostling in front of the net. Habs teammates. Not today, though
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) February 15, 2014
The first remained scoreless after 20 minutes. Both teams had chances but it was American Goalie Jonathan Quick who was the busiest as Russia out-shot USA 13-10.
2nd Period
Max Pacioretty took a bad penalty five minutes into the second frame to negate a strong shift in which he created some chances in the offensive end. Ryan Kesler blocked a rocket from Ilya Kovalchuk that sent him off in some noticeable pain. Kesler was later seen heading off to the dressing room with an ice pack on his hand. Somewhere John Tortorella was proud.
As news that Ryan Kesler had returned to the American bench, Andrei Markov fed Russian Captain Pavel Datsyuk for a defense-splitting break that quickly evolved into the first goal of the game. Alexander Radulov also assisted on the goal.
USA responded with a powerplay goal by defenseman Cam Fowler while ex-NHLer Alexander Radulov was serving a two minute minor for cross-checking. The Toronto Maple Leafs duo of James Van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel picked up assists.
The second period finished tied 1-1 with Patrick Kane in the penalty box for hooking. Russia maintained their slim lead on the shot clock with 22 to USA’s 20.
3rd Period
Completely relevant: It’s weird watching Evgeni Malkin wear #11 over his usual #71.
With Radulov taking another penalty, the Americans were able to go to work on the man-advantage. Joe Pavelski one-timed a cross ice pass from Kane to make it 2-1. St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk got the second assist as Team USA took the lead with half a period to play.
Markov missed a great opportunity to tie the game while Dustin Brown matched Radulov’s PIM total with a kneeing penalty opening the door for Russia to even the game up.
Sure enough Datsyuk answered with his second goal of the game on assists from Markov and Radulov.
With seven minutes left in a 2-2 game, I began to wonder if we’d see our first overtime of the Winter Olympics. Maybe even a shootout (wouldn’t that be fun).
Russian defenseman Fyodor Tyutin thought he’d broken the tie with a rising shot from the point, but Quick had knocked the net off seconds earlier during a scrum. The ruling after the replay was no goal, much to the host country’s fans’ disgust.
With 1:32 left in the third period, Callahan rekindled his hate with Russian defender Medvedev to draw a powerplay for USA when he was taken down.
The USA failed to score so the game extended to overtime!
Overtime
Olympic overtime format refresher: It’s the same as the NHL. Four-on-four play for five minutes followed by a shootout.
Team USA had a glorious chance to win it as Kane was sprung for a breakaway but Bobrovsky came up with a big save to keep it tied at two.
Kane almost scored again with 27 seconds left in overtime, but the reigning Vezina Trophy winner denied him.
So the game headed to a…
Shootout!
International shootout rule reminder: After the first three shots teams can choose to re-use shooters as many times as they like.
Watch the shootout in its entirety here:
ROUND 1:
USA – T.J. Oshie: GOAL!
RUSSIA – Evgeni Malkin: SAVE
ROUND 2:
USA – James Van Riemsdyk: SAVE
RUSSIA – Pavel Datsyuk: SAVE
ROUND 3:
USA – Joe Pavelski: SAVE
RUSSIA – Ilya Kovalchuk: GOAL!
With the shootout tied 1-1 after three shooters each, the order is reversed and teams can choose any player they wish to shoot.
ROUND 4:
RUSSIA – Ilya Kovalchuk: SAVE
USA – T.J. Oshie: SAVE
ROUND 5:
RUSSIA – Pavel Datsyuk: GOAL! (pseudo hat-trick for the Captain)
USA – T.J. Oshie: GOAL!
What a show. Shootout is tied 2-2 after five shooters each.
ROUND 6:
RUSSIA – Ilya Kovalchuk: GOAL!
USA – T.J. Oshie: GOAL!
Oshie has a hat-trick in the shootout alone!
ROUND 7:
RUSSIA – Pavel Datsyuk: SAVE
USA – T.J. Oshie: SAVE
ROUND 8:
RUSSIA – Ilya Kovalchuk: SAVE
USA – T.J. Oshie: GOAL!!!
USA wins it 3-2 in a shootout! T.J. Oshie scores four times (4 times!!!) in the shootout to secure the victory. An instant classic and suddenly Oshie is a household name in the United States.
Oshie is trending nationally and his Twitter handle (@OSH74) has increased by over 20,000 followers in the last 30 minutes. #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 15, 2014
Bylsma says he would have kept going back to Oshie had it kept going. Wasn’t thinking of changing.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 15, 2014
