It was the Anton Krasotkin show at the CN Centre on Monday as the Russian netminder stood tall to grab a 3-2 win over Team WHL in the opening game of the Canada/Russia series.
Danila Kvartalnov began the scoring early for Russia banking an innocent shot from a sharp angle on goaltender Connor Ingram.
The advantage wouldn’t last as Prince George Cougars forward Jansen Harkins was the beneficiary of a saucer pass from Devan Sideroff to even the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Both teams played much tighter defensively in the second with the score remaining tied into the third.
Team WHL dominated the shot clock and the territorial play for much of the third period except for one sequence when Nikita Li capitalized on a 4 on 2 rush and snapped home his first of the contest putting Russia back ahead 2-1.
A late power-play put Team WHL on even terms once again when Regina Pats star Sam Steel dug free a loose puck in the crease squeaking it past Krasotkin.
Team WHL continued to pour on the pressure in the final 10 minutes with great efforts from Harkins, Sideroff, Mason Shaw and Steel.
In overtime, Denis Alexeev played hero completing an end to end rush lifting one past a screened Ingram for the game-winner.
Alexeev and Harkins were both named players of the game for their respective teams.
After the game, Harkins was quite pleased with his game. “I was trying to go out every shift with speed and attack that is what we were trying to do was creating offense by coming at them.”
It is Harkins second go-round with Team WHL potting two goals last year followed by another in 2016.
He believes a rise in confidence has made all the difference. “Knowing what its going to be like is going to make you more confident and familiar and I think our mindset is to go in there with speed and attack them.”
Defenceman Kale Clague of the Brandon Wheatkings was also very strong in his own end and felt it was important to show that part of the game off in front of several scouts from around the CHL.
“It’s much easier when your playing with this many good players on the ice, I was playing with a great defensive partner that helped out a lot and it’s awesome to be apart of this playing with so many good players.”
For the Russians, they had 4 WHL based players on the roster including Moose Jaw Warrior players Dmitry Zaitsev and Nikita Popugaev who coincidently play for Team WHL Head Coach Tim Hunter.
MYPGNOW caught up with Popugaev after the game and says it was a unique experience. “It was a pretty awesome feeling going against my coach but we might playing on the fourth line because we won (laughs).”
Team WHL outshot Russia 34-21 and will play game 2 on Tuesday in Edmonton.
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