An international hockey event, with Russia and Canada squaring off for all the marbles? Sounds uber familiar.
Later in the period, Bedard was hooked on a breakaway and then denied by goalie Sergei Ivanov on the ensuing penalty shot; however, the 15-year-old would not be denied when he got a second chance as he pulled off a Connor McDavid/ Sidney Crosby-like backhander to tie the game 1-1.
The Russians entered the game with the tourney’s best power play but were 0 for 4 against Canada before Vladimir Grudinin beat Gaudreau blocker side.
It had been a few years since the countries met at this particular tournament — the last time was the 2014 preliminary round — and even longer since they met for gold.
It had also been a while since the Canadians took home any hardware, with the last being a bronze in 2015.
— Connor Bedard, talking to TSN’s Bryan Mudryk during the intermission, notes he didn’t get back hard enough and his guy scored on Russia’s first goal.