Just two goals were scored between the Czech Republic and Russia in the first period, but looking at the names involved and you’ll get a who’s who of NHL offensive threats.
Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Datsyuk assisted on Evgeni Malkin’s goal for Russia. In one play, you have three of the perrenial top-scoring forwards in the NHL all contributing. Those three combined have 203 points in the NHL this season, and that’s with Datsyuk having a down year, so far.
This was followed minutes later by a Tomas Plekanec goal, assisted by Patrick Elias and Tomas Kaberle. Not quite the impressive overall numbers by the Russian line, but it still goes to show the level of talent on display between the Czechs and Russians.