There’d be no exaggeration to say that this game was the most hardfought of all played in Minsk venue so far. It was clear from the start that both teams didn’t lack motivation, taking the ice with one and only aim – to win. The evidence was easy to observe: great speed and a lot of body checks. The Finns were the first to score when Markus Granlund scored on Sergei Kostenko in the second minute. It took the Russians five minutes to equalize on a goal from Emil Galimov.  
Likewise, the second period started with another quick Finnish goal scored by Pulkkinen who had shone in the their previous encounter against SVK. Few minutes later he made a double taking Suomi team to a 3-1 lead. After that goal RUS coaches pulled Kostenko replacing him with Andrei Vasilevski who made a shutout against LAT the day before.

Here’s how RUS coach Mikhail Vasiliev commented the goalies swap:

- I saw Sergei being a bit too anxious: there were plays in front of the net when he could (and should) have stopped those pucks. I think the goaltender must be able not only to make the “compulsory”, standard saves but above all make some fantastic ones, to perform little miracles in the net. He might be out of tone though – two days with no games inevitably have a negative impact on your zest and zeal. However I don’t see anything wrong in what happened. We are now confident that, as I said before, we have two great young goaltenders capable to hold us in any game.

There were no more goals scored in the second period while the third turned a real extravaganza of scoring chances missed and goals actually scored.  First, RUS captain Yevgeni Kuznetsov reduced the margin to one. In two minutes Vladislav Namestnikov equalized but Finns were quickly back in the lead. With two and half minutes to go RUS pulled their goaltender to try 6 against 5 advantage. However, an unfortunate mistake led to fifth goal scored by FIN.

Mikhail Vasiliev summarized the dramatic game:

- I can hardly blame any one for that goal – it’s a hockey game. There was a deflection and Finnish player was the first to pick that puck up and score. However, my team didn’t break down. They “snarled “ back and went on attacking eventually scoring another goal. The last goal was scored by Sergei Barbashev on a power play reducing the final score to just one goal. 5-4 in favor of FIN

Despite defeat coach Vasiliev had a lot of praise for his players and insisted that the game should be put on a positive record of the team:

- I guess it’d be wrong to think that a team is capable to win one game after the other and go unbeaten. I do not remember any such case since the great “Red Machine” times. I value this game as a success because it evidenced the players’ great fighting spirit. I admit there were some bad mistakes that led to second and third goals when forwards failed to help defensemen. But the second and especially third period convincingly showed both their character and will to win. After the game I congratulated the boys and made it a point that the way they played could only be rated as success.

Russia - Finland 4:5 (1:1, 0:2, 3:2)
Goals: 0:1 Granlund (Salomaki) 1:55; 1:1 Galimov (Lyubimov, Arzamastsev) 7:47; 1:2 Pulkkinen (Granlund, Donskoi) 22:29 PP1, 1:3 Pulkkinen (Donskoi) 26:16; 2:3 Kuznetsov 50:09; 3:3 Namestnikov (Kuznetsov, Barbashev) 52:13; 3:4 Makinen (Granlund) 53:14; 3:5 Asten (Teppo) 57:48 ENG; 4:5 Barbashev (Antipin, Kuznetsov) 59:11 PP1
Goalies: Kostenko (Vasilevski 26:16) - Iilahti

Russian Ice Hockey Federation
Press Service