MOSCOW, November 9 (R-Sport) - Viktor Tikhonov fired Russia to a 3-2 victory against Sweden in the first stage of the Euro Hockey Tour on Friday.
Tikhonov’s third-period solo goal decided the match after two minutes of the third period to give Russia the win in a rematch from this year’s world championships, when Russia beat Sweden 7-3 on the way to the gold medal.
Earlier, Yegor Averin had opened the scoring for Russia early in the first period before Sweden’s Martin Thornberg leveled the score for Sweden on five minutes.
Vadim Shipachev put Russia ahead again on 11 minutes, but Sweden struck back through Toni Mortensson in the second period.
Russia coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov has opted against calling up locked-out NHL players en masse for the Finland round of the Tour, instead preferring to focus on developing young talent in the Russian team.
