Evgeni Malkin and his Russian counterparts will go down as a huge failure at these Olympic Games. Malkin and Ovechkin did little to nothing for the entire tournament after scoring 1st period goals in Russia’s first game against Slovenia.
Malkin and Ovechkin will have to take some ownership of their shortcomings, their talent should have been good enough to sustain more quality even strength offense. I do however think that the Russian Head Coach was in over his head.
Alex Ovechkin has gone through an amazing renascence recently and he is back to scoring goals at a torrid pace. A huge part of his return to success was the switch to right wing and going back to playing the left circle on the power play. The Russian coach insisted on playing Ovechkin at left wing and on the power play point.
The reason I highlight the coach’s shortcomings with Ovechkin is because it affected Evgeni Malkin as well. Malkin never played on Russia’s top power play. Russia must be pretty special to be the only team in the world where Evgeni Malkin is not good enough to play the right circle or point on the power play. Going 3 for 19 on the power play probably wasn’t what Russia had in mind.
Russia also played 4 lines evenly throughout the tournament until it was too late. Russia loves to make statements by using their KHL guys, but that statement rings loud and clear with no medals for Russia since 2002.
The Russians played a passive 1-4 forecheck because their defense corp. was miserable. This neutered their star player’s ability to strike at even strength. The fact that Russia could not play a more aggressive style of play against teams like Norway and Slovenia were a true sign of poor roster management.
It was also a damning statement about the quality of Russian defensemen who have come through the ranks. Until the Russians can develop some more Vladimir Konstantinovs and Sergei Gonchars they will not be able to rise to the top of international hockey again. Perhaps Sabres prospect Nikita Zadorov is a start, we’ll see.
Ovechkin and Malkin were not impressed with their team’s situation in Sochi:
Rob Rossi ✔ @RobRossi_Trib
Told there was heated friction between Malkin/Ovechkin and Russian coaches. Subjects were KHL bias, lines, and situational usage
Chris Johnston @reporterchris
Russian coach singles out Alex Ovechkin. "I can not explain" how he didn't score more than one goal.
Dan Rosen ✔ @drosennhl
Malkin had to tell Bilyaletdinov to get Bobrovsky off the ice. Malkin had to tell the coach. I repeat, Malkin had to tell the coach.