Russian Humiliation

Uh. Apparently, the guys wearing those Russian jerseys forgot that there was a game tonight. So did their coach who thought it was a novel idea to keep a shaky Evgeni Nabokov in after he allowed a crushing fourth goal on a simple Brenden Morrow backhand wraparound. Brutal.

Let's see. A team consisting of Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Semin and Ilya Kovalchuk essentially quit. Malkin's turnover at the blueline that led directly to Rick Nash's breakaway goal following Dan Boyle's unscreened power play tally made it 3-zip before the sloppy Russians knew what hit them. Dmitry Kalinin (really) got one back. Kovalchuk had a quality chance in the slot blocked by Drew Doughty, who also leveled Ovechkin during the Canadian onslaught. Outside of that one shot, Kovalchuk was scary turning over the puck along with many teammates, who just couldn't deal with Canada's size and speed. Still, that Morrow goal was a momentum killer.

The Russian coach might want to beef up security because there's a good chance he'll need it. Poor Nabby just didn't have it. How sad is this performance if you can call it that? Russia's goalscorers are Kalinin, Maxim Afinogenov and Sergei Gonchar. On former captain Alexei Kovalev's 37th birthday, it looks like his country could use him. Oh well.

Goalscorers for Canada: Ryan Getzlaf, Boyle, Nash, Morrow, Corey Perry (2), Shea Weber.

The third is on. I gave up when it was 6-2.