Pick a name, they’re golden.
Kirill Kaprizov’s power-play one-timer from the right dot 9:40 into overtime gave Russia — OK, the Olympic Athletes from Russia — a 4-3 win over Germany in a wild gold-medal game Sunday in South Korea. It was the fourth point for Kaprizov, a Minnesota Wild draft pick. Nikita Gusev, who gave him the pass across the circles, was in on all four goals as well.
Patrick Reimer’s stick rode up into Pavel Datsyuk’s face 9:11 into overtime to create the game-winning man advantage. Datsyuk hit a post off the draw.
It’s the first gold for Russia since 1992, when, in the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union, it competed as the main part of the “Unified Team.”
The teams each scored two goals in the last 6:39, with Russia tying it short-handed in the last minute.
Germany took a 3-2 lead late. Datsyuk, of all people, turned it over. Germany rushed and found Jonas Muller, the trailer, for the go-ahead goal with 3:16 left.
Sergei Kalinin’s penalty with 2:11 left might’ve sealed it, but Russia pulled Vasili Koshechkin, and Gusev whacked a backhander that shot off a stick over aus den Birken’s blocker to tie it with 55.5 left.
Gusev scored from the bottom of the left circle with 6:39 left in regulation to make it 2-1 Russia. Just 10 seconds later, Frank Mauer slipped the puck on the backhand to an untouched Dominik Kahun in the slot to tie it.
Ex-NHLer Slava Voynov gave Russia a lead in the last second of the first period. Onetime Portland Pirate Felix Schutz tied it midway through the second period.
Men’s hockey
(All dates and times Eastern: Pyeongchang is 14 hours later)
Saturday
Bronze medal game: Canada 6, Czech Republic 4
Gold medal game: Russia 4, Germany 3 (OT)
Locals by the numbers:
| MEN’S: Team (Hometown) | GP | G | A | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Donato, USA | 5 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Chris Lee, CAN | 6 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Brian O’Neill, USA (Yale) | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Mark Arcobello, USA (Milford) | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Broc Little, USA (Yale) | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ilya Sorokin, RUS | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kevin Poulin, CAN | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tomas Marcinko, SVK | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mikko Koskinen, FIN | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| David Leggio, USA | — | — | — | — |
| Tobias Stephan, SUI | — | — | — | — |
| MEN’S GOALIES: Team (hometown) | GP | W-L | MP | GA | Svs | GAA | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mikko Koskinen, FIN | 5 | 3-2 | 296:38 | 8 | 109 | 1.62 | .932 |
| Kevin Poulin, CAN | 4 | 3-1 | 213:54 | 7 | 75 | 2.24 | .904 |
| Ilya Sorokin, RUS | 1 | 0-0 | 20:00 | 1 | 6 | 3.00 | .857 |
| David Leggio, USA | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tobias Stephan, SUI | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Sorokin is an Islanders draft pick. Donato is son of Ted Donato, a one-game Sound Tiger. Russia is competing as “OAR,” Olympic Athletes from Russia.
Final order of finish: 1) Russia 2) Germany 3) Canada 4) Czech Republic 5) Sweden 6) Finland 7) United States 8) Norway 9) Slovenia 10) Slovakia 11) Switzerland 12) South Korea