Landy, Staz and Dutchy in semifinals
Eurolanche brings you the daily recap of everything important that happened at the Olympics in Russia involving Avalanche players.Colorado Avalanche had three players in quarterfinals action today Gabriel Landeskog and his team Sweden beat the surprise of the Tournament – Slovenia. Paul Stastny played against Czech Republic and goalie Semyon Varlamov was in the net against Finland. Former Avalanche player Sandis Ozolinsh played against team Canada. Matt Duchene was scratched and Martin St. Louis replaced him in the line-up.
Swedes were the favorites in the game against Slovenia. For two periods, the Slovenian was a decent opponent to the Swedish team. In the third period the Swedish team made enormous pressure on the Slovenian goal and justly scored 4 goals and won the game clearly 5:0. Landeskog was on the ice when Alexander Steen scored the first goal of the game, but didn’t record any + point because of a man advantage. The Swedish hero was Carl Hagelin who scored a pair in the third period.
Gabriel Landeskog played a really good game. He was visible in offense and defense. His ice-time was 15 minutes and 32 seconds. He recorded 2 shots on the goal and 2 penalty minutes.
Sweden – Slovenia 5:0 (1:0, 0:0, 4:0)
Ambitious team Russia wanted to win this game and as indication of that was the beginning of the game. Russia took the lead in powerplay when Ilya Kovalchyuk scored with a one-timer. The answer was deadly. Finland scored two quick goals and took the lead. In the middle of the third, Finland scored the third goal and Sergei Bobrovsky changed Varlamov in the net.
Semyon Varlamov was in the net for 26 minutes and 42 seconds. He eliminated 12 of total 15 shots. He had an average Tournament. He won 2 of 3 games he started in, his SVS is 91.1% and his GAA is 1.98.
Finland – Russia 3:1 (2:1, 1:0, 0:0)
Team USA with Paul Stastny in line up faced team Czech Republic and showed their on-ice dominance from the early beginning. Czechs were able to answer on American opening goal, but afterwards the US team dominated the game. USA beat Czech Republic 5:2 and will play against Canada in semifinals.
Paul Stastny was not much visible on the ice, he spent there only about 10 minutes. From total of 7 faceoffs he won just 2, he recorded -1 point. He didn’t score any point.
USA – Czech Republic 5:2 (3:1, 1:0, 1:1)
In the last quarterfinal game Canada played against Latvia. Matt Duchene was scratched and replaced by Martin St. Louis. Former Avs player Sandis Ozolinsh led his team to a surprise. Many experts and fans expected a high victory of Canada, but that was not what happened. Latvian defense led by goalie Kristians Gudlevskis worked very well. Canada won the game closely 2:1.
Sandis Ozolinsh played over 20 minutes and helped his team a lot in defense. Ozolinsh had a small scuffle with Ryan Getzlaf. This Olympic Games were probably the last for the Latvian captain. In 5 games he did not score any point.
Matt Duchene did not play.
Canada – Latvia 2:1 (1:1, 0:0, 1:0)
Upcomming semifinal games (February 21st):
Sweden - Finland
Canada - USA
Source of pictures: IIHF, Twitter
Pavol Hercko, Slovakia, pavol@eurolanche.com
19/02/2014 - 21:00
