Russian victory in the big meeting – and German premiere crush
Top match directly in the World Cup premiere. Then the Russian Ice Hockey Federation's team won 4-3 after negligence in the Czech Republic where Mikhail Grigorenko who decided with only 19 seconds left. In parallel, Germany won by a landslide over Italy by 9-4.
TT 
Germany crushed Italy. Photo: Sergei Grits/AP/TT Both the Russian Federation's team and the Czech Republic have been painted as favorites ahead of the World Cup in Riga. As usual, Russian KHL players have strengthened the team, which has also been spiced up with NHL reinforcements in the form of, among others, Philadelphia star star Ivan Provorov. The Czech Republic has in turn managed to attract several NHL players to the World Cup. The Russian Ice Hockey Federation's team took the lead in the first period through Anton Burdasov but the Czechs quickly replicated via Jakub Flek, to everyday in the Czech league. In the middle period, the Russian lead was again followed by a Czech equalizer – but this time the team's NHL stars stepped forward. Detroit player Jakub Vrana received a fine pass from Chicago forward Dominik Kubalik, came free and shot safely in 2-2. With less than three minutes left to play in the third period, it was Kubalik's turn to be the goal scorer. That time he equalized to 3-3 after the Russians had taken the lead at the beginning of the period. Kubalik's goal looked to be the last of the match in regular time. But instead of extra time, a careless Czech change made room for Mikhail Grigorenko on the left wing. The NHL forward made no mistake when he entered the zone and shot the final result 4-3 via the crossbar and in, with only 19 seconds left to play. In Friday afternoon's second match, Germany clearly won against Italy with 9-4. Moritz Seider, who was recently named SHL's best defender, made an assist.