|
 Russia dispatched Sweden 5-3 behind two Yevgeni Malkin goals to set
up a last four meeting against the United States while evergeen
forward Jaromir Jagr scored twice to lead the home-town Czechs past
Finland for a spot against Canada in the next round.
Canada wasted little time getting on the board as Brent Burns
converted a nice feed from Sidney Crosby 27 seconds after the
opening faceoff while Tyler Ennis, Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Seguin
added first period goals.
Seguin's tally was his first of three in the game and put him into a
share of the tournament lead with nine goals while Burns led the way
for Canada with two goals and two assists.
Canada, the highest scoring team in this year's tournament,
dominated puck possession and fired 50 shots at Belarus goalie Kevin
Lalande.
Canadian players, coming off a 10-1 group stage win over Austria,
said despite two consecutive high-scoring wins the team would not be
complacent ahead of a semi-final match-up against the Czech
Republic.
"It's all about how hard you prepare for the game," said defenseman
Patrick Wiercioch. "As long as we continue to execute we will be
fine."
In the early game on Thursday, a young U.S. team fought back from an
early one-goal deficit to book their place in the semi-finals on
Saturday with a 3-1 win over Switzerland.
[to top of second column] |
Ben Smith and Charlie Coyle scored 57 seconds apart midway through
the second period to cancel out a superb solo effort from
Switzerland's Roman Josi, who staked Switzerland to a first period
lead.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner added an insurance goal in the final
period.
The United States will face Russia after beating their long-time
rival 4-2 during group play.
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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