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Kazakhstan was not enough for Latvia. The winner was decided in the second period, the decisive goal was scored by Roberts Bukarts
Kazakhstan lost to Latvia 0:2. So if they were looking for a historic promotion from the group, after the match with the paper favourite the door to the quarterfinals is almost closed. Latvia took advantage of the opportunity and did not let their opponent do anything, although the Asian team played several power plays. Roberts Bukarts scored the winning goal in his home stadium.
Kazakhstan lost to Latvia 0:2. So if he was looking for a historic promotion from the group, after the match with the paper favourite, the door to the quarter-finals is almost closed. Latvia took advantage of the opportunity and did not let their opponent do anything, although the Asian team played several power plays. Roberts Bukarts scored the winning goal in his home stadium.
Latvia offered their opponents three power plays in the opening period. Unfortunately for the fans of the Asian team, none of them ended in a goal. Moreover, the Kazakhs did not even spend most of the time in the offensive zone during the power plays.
After all, the goal scoring record speaks volumes about the inability of the team in pale blue. Kazakhstan produced only nine shot attempts, and it played 3 power plays.
Latvia entered the second period more active. Right after a few minutes, they got into a power play in which Janis Jaks was looking for Rodrigo Abols in front of a completely empty net. However, the Swedish Rögle forward got the puck between his legs and it was not even a shot.
Latvia secured the win in the second period
Roberts Bukarts opened the scoring in the 32nd minute. Oskars Batna skated the puck from the left corner into the forecheck area, fired a shot and the puck sailed in front of Andrei Shutov. Bukarts confirmed his experience and opened the scoring with a shot between the boards.
A few minutes later, the Kazakhs went 2-on-1. Mikhail Rakhmanov took a shot after a pass from his teammate, but it didn’t get the necessary height.
Kristers Gudlevskis made a great save to keep the Latvian lead. When Valeri Orekhov’s cross found only Heralds Egle, whose shot under the top bar gave the goalkeeper no chance, Kazakhstan was already down 0:2.
In the 3rd period, Latvia again offered Kazakhstan a power play. However, once again it turned out that this game activity is not one of the best skills of the Kazakhs. In the whole last part there was no effort that on paper the home team wanted to do something with the result.
Worth mentioning from the whole game is the clean sheet of Latvian goalkeeper Gudlevskis, who makes a double for the clear number one Elvis Merzlikins.
Source: 2024 World Cup of Hockey
