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Ovechkin tried his best, regrets mistakes in Canada loss

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 24: Sidney Crosby #87 of Team Canada and Alex Ovechkin #8 of Team Russia have a chat after Team Canada's 5-3 victory at the semifinal game during the World Cup of Hockey 2016 at Air Canada Centre on September 24, 2016 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 24: Sidney Crosby #87 of Team Canada and Alex Ovechkin #8 of Team Russia have a chat after Team Canada's 5-3 victory at the semifinal game during the World Cup of Hockey 2016 at Air Canada Centre on September 24, 2016 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Dave Sandford/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)

TORONTO – After they eliminated his Russian team on Saturday night, Alex Ovechkin was asked how any team in the World Cup of Hockey could hope to defeat the juggernaut that is Team Canada.

“Don’t be afraid to play against them,” he said, “play smart and don’t make mistakes.”

Ovechkin and Team Russia fulfilled that first obligation: They tried going toe-to-toe with Canada, despite their opponents controlling play to the tune of 75 shot attempts in their 5-3 win. The Russians used their speed and skill to hang with Canada, and even gave the host team a scare with two second-period goals for a 2-1 lead.

A brief 2-1 lead: Just like Canada trailed the U.S. for only 89 seconds in their preliminary round win, it only trailed Russia for 72 seconds in their semifinal win on Saturday night. Brad Marchand’s first goal of the game tied the scored at 2-2 with less than three minutes left in the period.

This is where Russia failed that second obligation, according to Ovechkin. After Sidney Crosby forced a turnover by Dmitry Kulikov on Canada’s opening goal, Evgeny Kutznetsov’s inability to clear the zone led to Marchand’s tally for their second.

“You can see on the first goal, we lose the puck and the puck goes on Crosby’s stick on a breakaway. Second goal is a bad bounce off of Kuzy’s stick. You can talk about luck, but you can’t make those mistakes. They have skill, talent, confidence and experience,” he said.

Why doesn’t Ovechkin have success against Team Canada? “Maybe he doesn’t have enough of luck,” said Russia coach Oleg Znarok, through a translator.

Or perhaps he’s just smothered all night by the likes of Canada’s shutdown pairing of Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Shea Weber. The Washington Capitals star was limited to no points and only one shot on goal and shot attempt overall.

“Time and space,” said Vlasic, when asked the key to shutting Ovechkin’s line down. “Against those three guys, his line especially, time and space, just be in their face. As soon as they get it, if you’re there or your stick is there, it doesn’t necessarily frustrate guys, but he can’t make his plays.”

If you take away Ovechkin’s linemates, you take away Ovechkin.

“Kuznetsov likes to pass it, but if he never has the puck he can never pass it to Ovechkin, so you try to stay above him in the middle,” said Vlasic.

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GettyImages-610198400

It so it goes for Alex Ovechkin. Another game in which the hockey world watches him reduced to non-factor status on the score sheet, while archrival Sidney Crosby has a goal and two assists. Another game in which Russia fell to a superior Canadian team, even if Ovechkin thought they had a chance to win.

“In the last five minutes of the second period, if we finish the second period with a [lead] it would be a different game,” he said. “It’s hard, because everybody knew we could beat them. In the locker room, it was positive. Nothing was dangerous.”

As for his own lack of offensive output – especially on the power play, where Russia didn’t score in the game or in the tournament – the player that’s led the NHL in goals for four straight season said it’s not always about goals.

“I tried to do my best, obviously. Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you score goals or not. You just have to you play hard,” said Ovechkin. “And I tried to play my hardest. Everybody was on the same page, playing the same system.”

He was disappointed with the loss although, admittedly, not as much as he was during Team Russia’s Olympic disappointments. Because as he’s stated on multiple occasions, the World Cup of Hockey is not the Olympics.

“You can’t compare this tournament with the Olympic Games. It’s two different tournaments. In the Olympics, you’re in shape, you play 40 games and then you came to the Olympics. Here you play three games, and you have to fight through time changing and game style, speed. It’s totally different,” he said.

Well, not totally different: Ovechkin has left both without playing for a championship, thanks to Canada.


Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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