Canada tops Russia, moves on to semifinals

In a clash of perhaps the most famous rivalry in international hockey, Canada beat Russia 4-2 to advance to Friday´s semifinal, where they will meet their other big rival--the USA. Canada was led by 2 goals from Kerby Rychel, while both Russia goals were assisted by Alexei Bereglazov.

By finishing third place in Group A, the Canadians had the misfortune of drawing Russia as a quarterfinal opponent. The Russians were inconsistent in Group B, but are known to often struggle early in tournaments before moving into high gear in the knockout stage.

It was the Canadians who came out flying in the first period, however, and it was their third line that got the first good scoring chance of the game when the forechecking of Mike Winther created a chance for Felix Girard, who had an open net but shot wide. The missed opportunity didn’t cost the Canadians badly, though, as they outshot the Russians 15-5 in the period and outscored them 2-0.

Nine minutes in, Sam Reinhart fired a hard shot at Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevski, who stopped it but did not control the rebound. Captain Matt Dumba got to the puck and backhanded it through his legs for his tournament-leading 9th point and the game’s opening goal.

The Russians had a chance to tie it on a power play right after and almost did, but Matt Murray kept the puck out. Minutes later, Alexander Delnov tried to find Daniil Zharkov on a two-on-one, but couldn’t complete the pass.

With three minutes left in the period, Canada went up by two, when Branden Troock sent the puck to the front of the net and Kerby Rychel re-directed it in. Before the end of the period, they almost went up by three, but it was another near-miss for Canada’s third line, which got lots of chances but had trouble finishing.

The second period was a different story, as the Russians went on the offensive and the Canadians back on their heels, spending much of the time having to kill penalties. Just after they killed off one penalty, Alexei Bereglazov sent Alexei Filippov away. He made a gorgeous move to get around a defenceman and then beat Murray as he was being pulled down to get Russia on the board.

Despite outshooting Canada 12-5 in the period, however, that was the only goal Russia was able to score; their best chance to do so being a one-timer from Delnov that Murray snared. Near the end of the middle frame, Kerby Rychel scored his second of the game on a perfect two-on-one feed from Troy Bourke, allowing Canada to escape a dreadful second period with their two-goal lead intact.

In the third period, persistence paid off for Canada’s third unit, as Winther and Gemel Smith did some nice work to set up Felix Gerard, who roofed a shot and then celebrated with a fist pump and leg kick to put Canada firmly in command of the game. Russia got one back as captain Anton Slepyshev scored on a rebound and Bereglazov picked up his second assist of the night, but despite calling a time out and pulling Vasilevski late, it was all they could muster.

The big battle Rychel refers to is the semifinal game against the Americans, as Canada moves from one big rival to another. It is a rematch from the group stage, when the US won 5-3.