Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev each had a goal and an assist, and nine players on Russia recorded at least a point in the victory.

Despite the fact that the match against Latvia is not considered a premier matchup, a lot of spectators came to out in Sochi to support Russian team.

And the home team didn’t disappoint, scoring in bunches. The game provided lots of goals, twelve in all.

“We wanted to score as much as possible to make our fans happy,” said a smiling Buchnevich. “But seriously we did lose concentration a bit but came back strong.”

For the Russian coaching staff, the match was a good opportunity for experiment with the roster. In place of Igor Shestyorkin, head coach Igor Kravchuk put in goalie Ivan Bocharov and mixed up some lines. Valeri Nichushkin still played in first line with Ilya Ivanov and Nikita Shatski, Pavel Buchnevich was transferred to the second line with Vladimir Tkachyov and Ivan Barbashev.

The changes seemed to work, as the offence got hotter as the game went on. After the first break Latvia came within a goal, scoring on a two-man advantage, but that would be the closest they got as Russia rang off seven unanswered goals in response.

“Latvia lost a couple of games with a big difference, so I think the guys underestimated them,” said head coach Igor Kravchuk. “After the score was 3-2 we played better and got a big win.”

Russian scored fast. A minute and a half into the game Ruzal Galeyev won the faceoff and the puck bounced to Artyom Zub and his slapshot was in the net. The second goal was scored on a five-on-three power play six minutes later: Barbashev assisted to Buchnevich who shot the puck in on a one timer. Red light behind net of Kristops Nazarovs made the crowd happy as Russia went up 2:0.