Russia takes SUBWAY Super Series Lead
BLAINVILLE-BOISBRIAND, Monday, November 5, 2012 – Goaltender Andrei Vasilevski made 31 saves and the Russian National Junior Team offence exploded for six goals to help them take a 1-0 lead in the 2012 SUBWAY Super Series following a 6-2 victory.
Team QMJHL were the beneficiaries of the first power-play of the contest early on after Kirill Kapustin was called for hooking. Team Russia played a solid two minutes on the penalty kill to keep the score tied at zero.
Quebec Remparts all-star forward and Buffalo Sabres first round pick Mikhail Grigorenko opened the scoring at 9:49 of the opening frame capitalizing on an odd-man rush.
The Russians doubled their lead just a few moments later. The first overall pick of the 2012 National Hockey League Entry Draft, Nail Yakupov, burst into the offensive zone and beat Étienne Marcoux (BLB) with a nifty shot.
The Russians retreated to their dressing room with a comfortable 2-0 lead after the first twenty minutes of play.
Kirill Dyakov and Andrei Sigarev were both sent to the penalty box early in the second period. Hometown favourite Xavier Ouellet (BLB) cut the lead to one with a powerful wrist shot that fooled goaltender Andrei Vasilevski at 2:53.
Maxim Shalunov put the visitors back up by two at 6:14. The winger burst into the offensive zone, using a defenseman as a screen before shooting the puck past Marcoux.
Team Russia added another marker before the end of the second period. Mikhail Naumenkov put his weight behind a strong slap shot that made no mistake and give the Russians a 4-1 advantage.
Jean-Sébastien Dea (ROU) and Valentin Zykov (BAC) added goals to complete the scoring.
Ouellet was named the player of the game for Team QMJHL with a goal and an assist while Vasilevski got the nod for the Russians.
Game two of the 2012 SUBWAY Super Series takes place at the Centre air Creebec in Val-d’Or on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports starting at 7 pm (ET).