Great Britain head into Tuesday’s rest day with just a single point from their opening two games after a 5-1 defeat at the hands of host nation Hungary this afternoon.
Martin Grubb’s men endured a nightmare spell in the first period, conceding three goals in 61 seconds to be down 3-0. The team matched Hungary over the final 40 minutes but only had Connor Glossop’s goal to show for their efforts in the end.
GB once again started with Renny Marr in net following his strong showing against Slovenia. Britain killed an early powerplay when Antonov was binned for hooking but otherwise even opening exchanges.
The critical spell came in the 13th minute. Lee Bonner was called for a charging penalty and from the ensuing powerplay, Hungary’s Martin Sagi netted with a one-timer from the slot at 12.19. Less than 30 seconds later Patrik Kiss skated behind the GB net and threw a pass betwen the hashmarks for David Molnar to strike into the net past Marr.
Britain thought they had a chance to respond when the had their first powerplay at 13.08 but Sagi won possession in neutral ice and skated in to finsih high over Marr’s shoulder for a shorthanded goal and Hungary’s third in 61 seconds.
Great Britain called timeout after the third goal and regrouped, creating a couple of good scoring chances in the remaining time but the period ended at 0-3.
Early in period two another GB penalty gave Hungary the man advantage and Patrik Kiss made it 4-0 with a shot from the right circle.
Shortly after another GB powerplay was killed, the Hungary net was finally breached at 29.37. Tyler Plews and Jordan Buesa combined to put Connor Glossop through on goal and the Peterborough man finished neatly in the top corner past Kovacs in the Hungary net.
GB had their best spell of the game following the goal but were unable to find a second goal to spur on the great fightback.
The final period was an even affair, GB again matching their opponents for long spell without generating that gilt-edged scoring chance. What looked like being a scoreless period was finally broken in the last minute – Zsombor Kiss firing into the roof of the net on an odd man rush with just 17 seconds remaining to round out the scoring at 5-1.
Coach Martin Grubb said: “It was a frustrating night. When we played to our systems and stuck to the game plan we were able to match Hungary as we showed in the second and third periods.
“When we went away from the plan or took bad penalties we were punished. We’d watched them yesterday and we knew what they were capable of – we shouldn’t have given them the chances.
“We need to use tomorrow’s rest day now to rest and recover in part, but certainly to go over our approach to the last three games. We’ve a long training session tomorrow afternoon and there is plenty to cover.”
As coach Grubb mentioned there are no games on Tuesday, each team has an hour-long training session at Jegpalota while the rest of the time is a ‘maintenance day’ for players and staff.
Great Britain resume the competitive action on Wednesday in the late game versus Poland. The puck drops at 8pm local time, 7pm UK time.
Photo Credit: Duncan Speirs