"The most important thing for me, and for the whole team, was to win," said Varlamov after the game. "I think, the team played pretty well. We had a huge amount of great chances, but just couldn't capitalize on them."

Varlamov was the first of the two goalies to be forced to make a big save, when Michel Miklik, working on an early Slovakia power play, was trying to tip the puck into the net from the crease, only to be denied by a lightning-fast kick save.

There wasn’t too much of that in the first period, however. Richard Panik’s big hit on Yevgeni Malkin and Malkin’s slap shot from the high slot, which Laco just managed to deflect with his glove, provided the only other highlights of the sluggish first 20 minutes of action.

The second period featured only marginally more excitement than the first and saw the Slovak goaltender getting penalized for hip-checking an opponent, a pair of gorgeous saves by Varlamov on a Milan Bartovic breakaway and, most significantly, a big injury scare for Russia.

In the 11th minute of the period, Ilya Kovalchuk, while chasing the puck in the defensive zone, got tangled up with Richard Panik and went down awkwardly, appearing to tweaked a knee or an ankle. Kovalchuk managed to get off the ice himself but he was in obvious pain and, after taking a precarious skate near the bench, he went off to the dressing room.

Alexander Popov took Kovalchuk’s place on Pavel Datsyuk’s line for the rest of the period, but Russia’s fears were assuaged when the team’s long-time leader was back on the ice to take his shift on a power play. Also back for Russia was Valeri Nichushkin who got hit with a puck in the second period and had to miss a few shifts.

After the game, Kovalchuk refused to discuss his health, only saying that "this is a question that should be asked later."

But even with "Kovy" back in the lineup, Russia’s scoring woes persisted, as once again the goalposts were not cooperating with the home team. On a third power play Yevgeni Medvedev’s shot from the blue line was deflected by Alexander Syomin and looked like it may have gone in under the crossbar. Indeed, Syomin began to celebrate, but the referee immediately waived the goal off. The subsequent replay proved the official right: the puck struck the crossbar, then the goalpost and landed in front of the line.

Before the refs had a chance to look at the replay, however, the question was almost rendered moot after Alexei Tereshenko’s breakaway chance, but Laco was once again equal to the task. There was more bad luck in store for Russia, as Malkin rang a shot off the post a few minutes later. The finishing touch, which the U.S. and Slovenia had exhibited against this particular opponent, simply wasn’t there for Russia.

It continued into the overtime, when Alexander Ovechkin made a berserker rush into the Slovakia zone, only to be denied first by Laco and then by Andrej Meszaros, who sprawled out in front of Ovechkin’s second attempt and got his glove on the puck. Seconds later, Malkin and Fyodor Tyutin were denied by Laco.

"We talked about playing a full 60 minutes and putting up strong defence," said Meszaros. "We should have done that two games ago but we didn't. Our goalie was unbelievable and so was theirs. I wish we could have played that way against USA and Slovenia."