Sweden downs Russia 7-1

Sweden downed Russia to open their participation in the 2011 Women's World Championship today. The Swiss who let from start to finish were rarely challenged by their defensive minded Russian foe who failed to grow on a first period goal by Alexandra Alexandra Vafina.

Sweden got on the board at the 4:56 mark of the first period when Erika Holst found the back of the net. Just under three minutes later at the 7:24 mark Elin Holmlov lit the lamp for her first of three points on the day. Rebecca Stenberg added her first career goal just over a minute later giving Sweden the 3-0 edge. Even as Russia cut into the deficit the with aforementioned Vafina unassisted goal, the Swiss offensive failed to slow down.

1:38 into the second period Tina Enstrom picked up her first goal of the tournament and the only goal in the frame,, assisted by Holmlov and Emma Nordin. The game took a physical turn for the remainder of the stanza as Russia took out some frustration and visited the box in the process, while Sweden added to the frustration by disrupting any Russian attempt to clear or play in the offensive end of the rink resulting in penalties of their own.

The Swedes finished the game much as it started as Erika Grahm scored on a 5 on 3 power play 18 seconds into the final frame. Frida Nevalainen and Anna Borgqvist added even strength goals of their own to round out the scoring in the game. The biggest improvement or hindrance depending on how you view the game, was the fairly even shots on goal, a 40-37 edge for Sweden. For one of the first times in watching Russia play they battled hard despite the score hopefully looking to prove that they can compete with the rest of the world ahead of the Sochi 2014 Olympic games they will host.

Box Score (IIHF)