BRATISLAVA – As I watched the Czechs capitalize on Russian errors and jump out to a 2-0 first-period lead on Sunday, I couldn’t help thinking: why don’t the Russians do more to address vulnerabilities in their game?

I don’t mean in the context of this one game – I mean in the big picture.

The Russians have so much talent that they could be winning even more consistently if they could just add a few more elements to their arsenal.

Let’s take a look at two prevalent deficiencies: physical defencemen and in-game coaching.

For instance, defencemen Ilya Nikulin and Nikolai Belov were less than physical when Jakub Voracek tucked in the Czech Republic’s opening goal at 14:01. How many times have we seen Russian defencemen fishing for the puck around their goalie when they could be clearing the front of the net?

I brainstormed and came up with a quick, partial list of notable Russian blueliners who have represented their country internationally and had or have a reputation for throwing their weight around.

Vyacheslav Fetisov
Alexei Kasatonov
Vladimir Konstantinov
Valeri Vasiliev
Anton Volchenkov
Vladimir Lutchenko
Alexander Ragulin
Vitali Vishnevski

That list spans the decades, and there’s not a whole lot of contemporary value. Also, neither Volchenkov nor Vishnevski (who doesn't quite equal the stature of the other listed names) is known for making big contributions offensively as well as defensively, which is the ideal for international play. If you look at this year’s Russian roster, yes, Dmitri Kalinin, Ilya Nikulin, Fyodor Tyutin, and Alexei Yemelin bring a moderate amount of physicality. But they’re not striking fear into the hearts of opposing forwards.

Today, there has to be more emphasis on developing smart, heads-up D-men who are also big hitters if Russia wants to be a contender that can truly be counted on.

And what about in-game coaching? The Russians do a great job of training their players and preparing them to compete. Yet even though Russia has won two gold medals and reached three finals in the last four years, it’s hard to pinpoint a recent big game about which you could clearly state: “Russia won this game because the Russian coach outsmarted his opponent tactically with in-game adjustments, from overall defensive posture to line-matching to goaltending changes.”

The Russians won the 2008 gold medal game because snipers like Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexander Semin came to life at the right time. But Russia didn’t exactly shut Canada down – they had to dig themselves out of a 4-2 hole before prevailing 5-4 in overtime. In 2009, they rode Ilya Bryzgalov’s stellar 37-save performance to a 2-1 win over the Canadians.

In last year’s final, a Czech team with just a few “name players” edged a superstar Russian squad with 14 Olympians. Despite the fine play of Czech netminder Tomas Vokoun, at least some of the responsibility for Russia’s defeat has to fall on the shoulders of coach Vyacheslav Bykov for not finding a way to get more than one goal out of all that talent.

Bykov’s failure to match lines and pull goalie Yevgeni Nabokov after the first period in the 7-3 quarter-final loss to Canada at the 2010 Olympics has been well-documented.

And even in Russia’s 2011 Qualification Round finale versus Finland, Bykov neglected to pull his goalie toward the end of regulation in what turned out to be a 3-2 shootout loss for Russia. He thereby missed a chance to get three points and move up in the standings. Instead, Russia was destined to finish fourth in Group E as soon as the final siren sounded.

Bykov’s explanation was that he couldn’t yank Alexander Barulin because his players couldn’t keep the puck in the Finnish zone. But since only three points would do, and a regulation loss wouldn’t have hurt Russia, the goalie could have been pulled, say, three minutes before the end of regulation if need be.

In fairness, as my colleague Risto Pakarinen pointed out at the end of the Czech Republic-Russia first period, everybody’s got problems.

For example, Finland’s been searching for a goal-scorer not named Jari Kurri or Teemu Selänne for the last 20 years.

LUCAS AYKROYD