ST. PETERSBURG, Russia: Finland handed the United States its second loss by 3-2 at the world ice hockey championship on Monday.
Finland’s third win from three matches kept pace with Canada, which routed Belarus 8-0 with seven different players scoring, and led their group on goal difference. Canada has 20 goals in three games, and doesn’t play Finland until the last round of group matches next week.
The US is fourth with its only win against Belarus. The top four qualify for the quarterfinals.
“I thought it was a very competitive game,” US coach John Hynes said. “Unfortunately for us we were one goal short but we really liked the intensity level that we played with, and I feel like we really took a step in our team game.”
Mikko Koivu and Antti Pihlstrom scored for Finland in the first period before Frank Vatrano made it 2-1 with a slapshot.
Connor Murphy leveled early in the third for the US, but Leo Komarov slid in the puck four minutes later for the game-winner.
The game pitted two players up for the No. 1 spot in next month’s NHL draft, Finland’s Patrik Laine and America’s Auston Matthews. While Laine did not add to his four goals and two assists for the tournament, Matthews took the puck from Laine and assisted Vatrano’s goal to move to two goals and two assists.
“This was the worst game for me in a long time,” said Laine, who said he “stopped playing” before losing the puck to Matthews in the mistaken belief that there had been an offside call. “The most important thing is those three points (for Finland), and it’s all that matters when our team’s winning.”
With patriotic Soviet songs playing in the arena to mark the anniversary of beating the Nazis in the Second World War, Canada got two goals from Ryan O’Reilly, one of them while short-handed.
“It was a competitive game, especially early on,” Canada coach Bill Peters said. “That short-handed goal was a bit of a game-changer. They were very competitive and in the end, our depth is what wore them down.”
Cam Talbot faced only 13 shots for Canada’s first shutout of the championship.
The Czech Republic leads the Moscow group after beating Sweden 4-2 on two goals and an assist from Michal Birner.
Sweden was 2-0 up after the first before the Czechs scored four straight goals to take the win despite being outshot 29-20 overall.
Host Russia is second after beating Latvia 4-0 on two goals and two assists from forward Artemi Panarin, who bounced back after he was pulled from Sunday’s game against Kazakhstan following a hard collision into the boards.
Defenseman Alexei Yemelin faces a minimum one-game suspension after he was ejected for a knee on Miks Indrasis.
Russia is 2-1 after an opening 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic and the tricky 6-4 win over Kazakhstan.
Finland hands US 2nd loss at ice hockey worlds
Finland hands US 2nd loss at ice hockey worlds
Medvedev to face Griekspoor in bid for second Dubai title
- Former world No. 1 Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the semifinal
- Despite an injury, unseeded Dutchman Griekspoor beat 5th-seed Andrey Rublev in the other semifinal
DUBAI: Daniil Medvedev reached the Dubai Tennis Championships final on Friday and will face unseeded Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor as the Russian attempts to achieve something that has eluded him throughout his stellar career — winning the same tournament twice.
Former world number one Medvedev demolished top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4 6-2 in an 83-minute semifinal, setting up a title clash that could see him claim a second Dubai crown to go with his 2023 triumph.
Medvedev, who has won 22 titles at 22 different tournaments, arrived in Dubai with a point to prove after early exits in Rotterdam and Doha.
However, the third seed has been in scintillating form in Dubai, dispatching Shang Juncheng, Stan Wawrinka, Jenson Brooksby and Auger-Aliassime — all in straight sets.
“It has been an amazing four matches, probably playing better and better each match, today being the best performance,” said Medvedev.
“If I can put in an even better performance tomorrow, I will have my chances to win and that is what I am going to try to do.”
Griekspoor battles injury to beat Rublev
Standing in his way will be Griekspoor, who continued his giant-killing run by beating fifth seed Andrey Rublev 7-5 7-6(6) in the other semifinal.
The Dutchman denied the 2022 champion, who also finished runner-up the following year, another shot at the Dubai trophy, saving two set points in the second-set tiebreak.
“No idea how I pulled off this one, I could barely walk at the end of the first set,” said Griekspoor, who took a medical timeout for treatment in the opening set.
“He served extremely well. I got very lucky in the tiebreak to win it in two sets ... I landed with a serve and felt something in my hamstring.
“If he had won the tiebreak, I don’t know if I would have continued.”
It marked three consecutive top-20 wins for Griekspoor for the first time in his career after he beat second seed Alexander Bublik and Jakub Mensik en route to the final.
Griekspoor, who has won three ATP 250 titles in his career, will be looking to add a first ATP 500 trophy to his collection when he faces Medvedev.
