2018 World Championship. Belarus - Russia - 0:6

In Denmark, the senior Russian national team defeated Belarus 6:0 in the third 2018 World Championship group stage match. Interim head coach Ilya Vorobyov made one major change to the line-up following the victories over France and Austria, giving SKA Saint Petersbirg goalkeeper Igor Shestyorkin a chance between the pipes in place of Vasily Koshechkin.

There was a slow tempo during the opening stages, but Russia eventually broke the deadlock after six minutes when SKA captain Pavel Datsyuk squeezed a clever wraparound attempt beyond Vitaly Trus. The scorer almost grabbed his second on the powerplay as the pipe denied him, before Kirill Kaprizov smashed the crossbar at point blank range. Belarus were the next to see a goalbound effort his the post, with an opposing forward thumping the woodwork with Igor Shestyorkin completely beaten.

Belarus made a positive start to the second period, coming close to an equaliser. The opponents were gifted with a 1 on 1 opportunity, however Igor Shestyorkin pulled off a superb save, keeping Russia's advantage intact. Nevertheless, as time rolled on, our players slowly increased the intensity and found three more goals in the frame. Maxim Shalunov and Ilya Kablukov scored indentical goals on the crease, both hitting the jackpot after wonderful assists from SKA forward Alexander Barabanov. On the powerplay, Pavel Datsyuk then grabbed his second, going top shelf on Vitaly Trus.

Maxim Mamin tipped in and Kirill Kaprizov netted on an odd man rush in the third period, completing the rout and Russia's large 6:0 victory over Belarus! The next game will take place on May 10 at 21.15 Moscow time against the Czech Republic.

Match protocol:

Belarus - Russia - 0:6 (0:1, 0:3, 0:2)

Goals:

0:1 Datsyuk (Dadonov), 05.27
0:2 Shalunov (Barabanov, Kablukov), 25.55
0:3 Kablukov (Barabanov, Tryamkin), 29.25
0:4 Datsyuk (Khafizullin, Shalunov), 39.26
0:5 Mamin (Zaitsev), 45.16
0:6 Kaprizov (Datsyuk, Dadonov), 47.37

Goalkeepers: Trus - Shestyorkin

Shots on target: 18 - 27

Faceoffs: 23 - 25

Penalty minutes: 4 - 2

07.05.2018.