Russia sends Slovakia to Relegation with a 4-1 Win!

Despite another fantastic effort by Zuzana Tomcikova in net Slovakia fell to 0-3 at the 2011 Worlds 4-1 to Russia. The Russians got on the board with a short handed goal during an Iya Gavrilova penalty to lead 1-0 after one. In the second period Russia out shot the Slovaks 20-2 but failed to score setting the stage for a third period of nail biting.

However in the third the Russians were able to get back onto the scoreboard with two early goals giving them a 3-0 edge. The lead would swell to 4-0 when Alexandra Vafina scored the second short handed goal for Russia in the game. With less than four minutes to play Slovakia finally got on the scoreboard in the tournament with a nice feed in front of the net.

The Russians record of 1-2 in group play is good enough to setup a date with Switzerland on Friday in the quarterfinals. With the loss Slovakia falls back into the best of three relegation series where they will faceoff with Kazakhstan.

Box Score (IIHF)