A third-period goal from Peter Ceresnak propelled Slovakia past the Olympic Athletes from Russia 3-2, as the gold-medal favorite fell in an upset to open the men’s hockey tournament.
OAR seized control of the game immediately, opening the scoring less than three minutes in. Ilya Kovalchuk snapped a shot from just inside the blue line, and the puck deflected off of a Slovakian defender into the net.
OAR doubled its advantage soon after, as Kirill Kaprizov redirected Nikita Gusev’s wrister in the slot past Slovakian goaltender Branislav Konrad.
But a strong Slovakian response turned the tide. It took a soft goal to begin the comeback: Peter Olvecky skated along the right side and threw a seemingly innocuous shot on net, but it sneaked between Vasili Koshechkin’s legs to bring the Slovaks within one late in the first period.
Martin Bakos knotted things up less than two minutes later, when a block from Marek Hovorka released him on a breakaway opportunity. Bakos charged down the right wing and rocketed a shot high glove-side to tie the score on just Slovakia’s fourth shot of the game.
After a wild opening period, neither team could find the go-ahead goal in the second, as both goaltenders turned away multiple scoring opportunities.
However, Koshechkin’s uncomfortable night in net continued in the final frame, and it cost OAR midway through the third when a delay of game gave Slovakia a power play. A smooth entry into the zone from Bakos eventually set up an opportunity for Ceresnak at the point, and Ceresnak bombed a slap shot that found a gap between Koshechkin’s glove and pad at 8:30 in the third.
Konrad finished with 20 saves, while Koshechkin saved just 16 of 19 shots.
Slovakia killed two OAR power plays as time wound down to keep momentum on the underdogs’ side. A tripping penalty against Alexei Marchenko with less than two minutes to go all but sealed the upset.
Slovakia looks to carry momentum over to its next matchup against Team USA, who suffered an overtime loss against Slovenia in its opening game. OAR will look to bounce back when it takes on Slovenia.