HELSINKI, May 13 (R-Sport) – Eight different Russians netted goals on an economical 18 shots as the top-scoring team at the 2013-IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) World Championship trounced Austria 8-4 in Helsinki on Monday.
The loss means Austria finishes last in the Helsinki pool with one day left in the preliminary round, and guarantees relegation one year after they earned a promotion to the world championship.
Russia, meanwhile, now has 15 points and finishes the preliminary round tied for first place with the United States, who plays their final first-round game against Slovakia on Tuesday.
Having already sewed up a playoff berth, Russia had little to play for on Monday and the lack of urgency showed early on as goals from Matthias Iberer and Buffalo Sabres wing Thomas Vanek 15 seconds apart in the first period tied the game at two.
Michael Raffl scored on a deflection with a man advantage at 15:56 of the first to give Austria a brief 3-2 lead.
The game went back and forth in the second period until Sergei Mozyakin buried his first goal of the tournament at 11:07 on a loose rebound off Bernhard Starkbaum, the Austrian goalie.
That made it 5-4 and subsequent goals by Sergei Soin, Nikita Zaitsev and Yevgeni Kuznetsov iced the victory. Russia now leads the tournament with 29 goals in seven games.
Russian goaltender Semyon Varlamov allowed three goals on 15 shots in the first period, but gave up only one while facing 21 shots over the second and third.
Rene Swette, in his first world championship appearance, let in two on five shots in the opening frame before he was pulled for Starkbaum, who had started the previous six games.
Florian Iberer scored Austria’s final goal early in the second on a cross-ice pass that bounced off defenseman Ilya Nikulin’s skate and past a surprised Varlamov.
The first round wraps up Tuesday with six games, many of which will decide who takes the fourth and final playoff spot out of the Helsinki and Stockholm groups.
In Stockholm, Switzerland will attempt to stay atop the leaderboard with a win over Belarus, the host of next year’s championship. Belarus, who has three points, plays Sweden; if Slovenia beats Canada Monday night, they will have to win to avoid an embarrassing relegation.
The fifth-place Czechs, who have eight points, take on the fourth-place Norwegians, who have nine. Sixth-place Denmark, who has a slim shot at making the playoffs after beating Belarus on Monday, faces third-place Sweden.
In Helsinki, Slovakia looks to hold onto fourth place with a win over the U.S. France, with six points, battles Germany, who has seven. Latvia, also with six points, plays second-place Finland.
Three points are awarded for a win, two for an overtime win and one for an overtime loss.
