Sekera gets first point; Afinogenov Shines

It was a big day for the Buffalo Sabres at the World Championships.  Andrej Sekera helped Slovakia beat Slovenia in an attempt to avoid being relegated to Division 1.  Sekera earned his first point of the tournament when he assisted on a goal by Marcel Hossa.  The win by Slovakia is their first in the relegation round.  Slovakia was 1-2 in the preliminary round with their only win coming against Norway, they beat Norway 5-1 on the first day of the tournament.  They lost their next two games, 4-2 against Germany and 3-2 against Finland.  The 1-2 record tied them with Germany in the standings of their group but Germany advanced by virtue of their 5-2 victory over the Slovaks.

Russia and Belarus played a whale of game that Russia eventually won 4-3 in a shootout.  Max Afinogenov put the Russians on the board in the second period cutting the Belarus lead to 2-1 and he assisted on the Russians third goal, the second of the game for Alex Ovechkin.  Max finished the game a plus one and he now has two goals and two assists in the tournament.  Dmitri Kalinin was a non-factor for the Russians, playing only 10 minutes and 42 seconds in the victory.

Derek Roy and the Canadians will be back in action tomorrow and the United States will wait until Sunday to take the ice.