Russia got the opener in the middle of the first period, producing a classical power play. Maksim Sushinksy found Sergey Mozyakin at the far post and the unmarked forward scored into an empty net, 1-0.
Belarus had a great chance to equalize at the start of the second period, as they played 5 on 3 for over a minute, but the Russian defense kept its cool and didn’t allow its rivals to create any serious threats.
And than Ovechkin struck, upsetting netminder Andrey Mezin with one of his famous wrist shots, upping the lead to 2-0. Alex the Gr8 has so far scored in every game in Germany.
The third goal came less than two minutes later when Artyom Anisimov was first on the rebound after Mozyakin’s effort, making it 3-0 for Russia after two periods.
The coaches decided to give a chance to all three of their keepers during the first group stages and it was Semyon Varlamov’s turn to appear on the ice in this game.
The Washington Capitals man couldn’t keep a clean shirt as Belarus got one back from Alexey Kalyuzhny, to end the scoring at 3-1.
Bykov’s men finish the preliminary stage of the tournament first in Group A. They have 9 points after being victorious in all of their three games against Slovakia (3-1), Kazakhstan (4-1) and Belarus.
Host nation Germany, Finland and biggest sensation of the event, Denmark – which already stunned the Finns and the US – will become Team Russia’s rivals in Group E of the qualification round.
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