Marian Gaborik's two goals in the third period gave Slovakia a 5-3 win over Russia.

Gaborik's heroics
spur Slovakian win
By Phil Coffey | NHL.com
Feb. 15, 2006

TORINO, Italy -- Marian Gaborik of the Minnesota Wild netted two late goals, scoring at 16:32 and 19:31 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie and rally Slovakia to a 5-3 upset win over Russia in Olympic preliminary-round play at the Torino Esposizioni Wednesday.

The win saw Slovakia rally from a 2-1 and 3-2 deficits and ranks as one of the biggest wins in the country's hockey history.

"For the beginning of the tournament it was a very good game," Slovakia coach Frantisek Hossa said. "Both teams were very strong. It was a really exciting game. Probably the best was how we played shorthanded. This victory means very much to me."

Pavol Demitra scored at 9:07 of the first period, but the Russians responded nearly immediately with goals by Pavel Datsyuk at 10:00 and Alexei Kovalev at 12:38.

Slovakian defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky tied the game with a power-play goal at 5:51 of the second period, but Russian rising star Alexander Ovechkin restored his team's edge at 10:03 of the third.

At 13:05, Peter Bondra tied the game at three, setting the stage for Gaborik's late-game heroics.

Phil Coffey is NHL.com's editorial director. He has covered the NHL since 1981. Related Links NHL.com's Olympics section

"I'd like to not only talk about Gaborik," Hossa said. "It was the teamwork of his teammates. Everybody knows the ability of Gaborik, especially in the last minutes.

"Sure I am disappointed," Kovalev said, "but we must not forget this is just the first game and we need to keep positive."

Kovalev may need to chat with Russian goalie Ilya Bryzgalolv, who took the defeat hard.

"Nothing was good," the goalie said. "We made a lot of mistakes. We tried to play an offensive game, but probably didn't understand what our coach wanted."

A big Swiss miss -- The Swiss know they missed the target in a big way Wednesday, thumped by the Finns in the opening game of the preliminary round by a 5-0 count.

"I think that every starting game in a tournament isn't very easy," Montreal Canadiens defenseman Mark Streit said. "Our team had to get used to the speed and the different game than we usually play in Switzerland. We started off well, but then had too many penalties. We were too passive, didn't skate enough and didn't do enough forechecks.

"I think the Finns took it easy in the last period," Streit said. "It was important for us to play a good third period. We tried to improve our offensive play and skate more."

With so much to work on, the daunting notion for the Swiss is the Czech Republic awaits in another preliminary-round game Thursday.

***

Swedish surprise -- Swedish coach Bengt Gustafsson surprised almost everyone when he started Stefan Liv in goal for the team's opening game against Kazakhstan Wednesday instead of NHL goalies Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers and Mikael Tellqvist of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But there was a method to his perceived madness. The coach noted that both goalies arrived in Torino Tuesday, were suffering from jetlag and hadn't practiced with the team. The move to Liv didn't hurt as the Swedes skated to an easy 7-2 win.

Still, Liv was the most surprised guy in the building when he got the nod.

Getting oriented to the bigger dimensions in Torino took some getting used to for Mats Sundin.

"I wasn't expecting it," he said. "I was shocked. It doesn't matter which team we play, but I think I would have been more nervous against Canada. It was an amazing experience."

Liv was a fourth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2000.

Adjustment period -- Mats Sundin grew up on the bigger rinks used in Europe, but after so much time in North America, getting oriented to the bigger dimensions in Torino took some getting used to.

"More than anything, it was good for us to skate and be on the big ice surface," Sundin said. "Some of our guys just got their equipment before the game started and sticks and all that. It's a learning experience. We know we're going to face a very tough opponent (Russia, Thursday), a young and fast team, and I'm just glad we got this game in our legs before that one."

NHL players are everywhere -- There are NHL players seemingly everywhere around Torino now that the men's tournament has started. In fact, a record 150 NHL players are taking part in the 2006 Olympics, playing on 11 of the 12 teams in the tournament.

There are 10 members of the Colorado Avalanche scattered across eight national teams. Following are the Red Wings and Rangers with nine players each, then the Senators with eight and the Stars and Lightning with seven players a piece.

The Olympic tournament isn't strictly an NHL-event, but the rosters of both the Canadian and American contingents are made up of strictly NHLers. The Czech Republic has 22 NHL players. Then comes Sweden with 19 and Finland, Russia and Slovakia with 17 each. Germany checks in with five, Switzerland has three and Kazakhstan and Latvia each have a pair of NHL players.

The 150 players tops the mark of 145 who appeared at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City and the 125 who competed in 1998 at Nagano.