Schutz’ goal in the second period was more like a joke, but it wasn’t funny for us. He could not plan to throw to Koshechkin so that the puck bounced in Vasily’s elbow, and then jumped into the gate? It was impossible to plan that. The score was 1:1. Each team had one goal, and one stroke of luck. We had one more period ahead.
Our guys could not press as hard as they did in the beginning of the match, they are not asbestos. The Germans were also tired. It is not clear how it occurred to Gusev, but he did the following: Nikita has thrown right into the goalkeeper’s helmet, and in strict accordance with the laws of physics, the puck ricocheted into the net. 2:1.
The Germans pulled themselves together as quickly as possible, or may be it was good luck again, but after 10 seconds Kaun equalized. You can blame Koshechkin, but what’s the point? The score was 2:2 and seven minutes left until the end of the period- only that was important, nothing else.
When three minutes before the honk Muller scored another goal, the situation became tense. The play called ‘Germany in Pursuit of a Miracle’ was approaching the happy end (as they imagined). To beat the Swedes in the quarterfinals, then the Canadians in the semifinals and then rally to defeat Russians in the finals – isn’t it a fairy tale?
But for the Germans the another miracle did not happen. It happened to us. Two minutes and 11 seconds before the end of the period Kalinin was given a penalty. It was like a verdict. But our guys rushed forward, Znarok has removed the goalkeeper, and with an empty net, in a five-on-five game, the unbelievable thing happened. Gusev saw an empty near corner, threw from an uncomfortable hand and hit – 3:3, and here goes the overtime.
