Russia eliminates U.S. in quarterfinals; Canada in semis
The U.S. was eliminated despite battling back while Canada barely survived in the quarterfinals of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Slovakia on Thursday.
The United States lost 4-3 to Russia in Bratislava. Canada, meanwhile, beat Switzerland 3-2 in overtime after tying the game with less than a second left in regulation.
Team USA, which ends the tournament 4-1-0-3 (W-OTW-OTL-L), was without centers Dylan Larkin (groin) and Derek Ryan. Detroit’s Larkin, who was hit with a puck in the groin in the first period in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Canada, was done for the tournament even if the U.S. would have advanced to the semifinal.
“I thought overall we played our best game of the tournament,” said U.S. and Detroit coach Jeff Blashill on the USA Hockey website. “It's tough to get in the early hole we did against a team like Russia, who is as good of a team as I've seen here over the last three years. But we really dug in and played a great second and third, especially.”
Russia’s Nikita Gusev scored 1:07 into the game, and Mikhail Sergachyov added a power-play goal with 4:13 left in the first period to make it 2-0.
Defenseman Noah Hanifan’s goal 5:53 into the third period pulled Team USA to within 3-2, but Mikhail Grigorenko answered for Russia (8-0-0-0) just 1:09 later to restore the two-goal lead.
Farmington Hills’ Alex DeBrincat scored with goalie Cory Schneider pulled for the extra attacker with 2:50 remaining for the final margin.
Defenseman Brady Skjei also scored for the U.S., and captain Patrick Kane and Jack Hughes, who replaced Larkin in the lineup, each had two assists. Schneider made 39 saves.
"It’s disappointing because we had high expectations, so we’re not happy our tournament’s done so quickly," Skjei said on the IIHF website. "You know, they’re a really good team. We know that, but we’ve got a good team, too, and we thought we could beat them, and I still think that we could have."
Hughes was the U.S. Player of the Game and Kane, Larkin and defenseman Ryan Suter were named Team USA's top three players of the tournament.
Gusev and Sergachyov had a goal and two assists each and Karill Kaprizov also scored for Russia. Andrei Vasilevski made 29 saves.
Russia will face Finland, which beat Sweden 5-4 in OT, in the semifinal round on Saturday.
Mark Stone’s power-play goal 5:07 into overtime gave Canada a 3-2 win after defenseman Damon Severson’s goal with 0.4 seconds left in regulation tied it for the Canadians.
It was Stone’s second goal of the game and he also assisted on Severson’s goal.
Canada (6-1-1-0) avoided being upset by Switzerland for the second consecutive year.
The Canadians were without the Red Wings’ Anthony Mantha, who was suspended for the game because of a hit to head of Colin White in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over the U.S. Mantha was replaced in the lineup on Thursday by Detroit teammate Tyler Bertuzzi.
Mantha will return when Canada plays the Czech Republic, which beat Germany 5-1 on Thursday, in the other semifinal on Saturday.
Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek had an assist for the Czech Republic.
The gold- and bronze-medal games are on Sunday.