Evgeny Kuznetsov’s FIFA-inspired goal celebration at World Cup (Video)

TORONTO – World Cup fever hit Evgeny Kutznetov after his goal on Monday night.

Granted, it’s the World Cup of Hockey and he unleashed a soccer-inspired celebration. But enthusiasm can’t be expected to always be properly categorized.

Kuznetsov scored his first goal of the tournament at 13:37 of the second period, during a four-goals-on-four-shots barrage from Team Russia that put them ahead of Team North America for good. Russia won, 4-3, thanks to that goal flurry and 43 saves from goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

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Kuznetsov’s goal was a brilliant one, using his speed against the fastest team in the tournament and beating goalie Matt Murray – the same goalie that eliminated Kuznetsov’s Washington Capitals from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

The Russian winger then skated down the boards and did a wild wing-flapping celebration.

“I play ‘FIFA’ a lot,” he said, in reference to the EA Sports soccer game. He said the celebration wasn’t planned, but was “emotional.”

Kuznetsov is no stranger to memorable celebrations, including the hockey kayak and doing pushups.

Russia had plenty to celebrate after the 4-3 win, earning two points and putting themselves back in the conversation for a spot in the semifinals. They close out preliminaries on Thursday against Finland.

“It’s nice to get the two points. We don’t really care who scores. We needed the win to stay alive,” said Kuznetsov.

“We did it. We won the game. We feel like a family.”

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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