Canada edges Russia in OT to reach world semifinals

Canada will compete for a medal at the world hockey championship for the fourth straight year.

Ryan O’Reilly scored the game winner on a 4-on-3 power play 4:57 into overtime Thursday as Canada beat Russia 5-4 and punched its ticket to the semifinals in Copenhagen.

Colton Parayko and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored powerplay goals, while Kyle Turris and Pierre-Luc Dubois added thirdperiod markers.

The Canadians face Switzerland in the semifinals in Copenhagen on Saturday. The Swiss advanced with a 3-2 upset of Finland on Thursday.

The other semifinal will feature the United States and Sweden. The Americans remained in the hunt for their first medal since 2015 after a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic, while the Swedes edged Latvia 3-2.

Canada controlled the play, outshooting Russia 12-4 in the opening frame and taking a 1-0 lead when Parayko fired a massive slapshot to the glove side of Igor Shestyorkin at 4:45. The 22-year-old was a surprise starter in place of the more experienced Vasili Koshechkin.

Darcy Kuemper made his fifth start of the tournament for Canada.

The teams traded chances in overtime before Canada went to the power play after Kirill Kaprizov was whistled for slashing with 3:35 elapsed. Canadian coach Bill Peters called a timeout, then sent out captain Connor McDavid with O’Reilly, Aaron Ekblad and Parayko, with O’Reilly’s goal ending the game.

Canada has now won its last three meetings with Russia at the worlds, storming back for a 4-2 win in the semifinal in Cologne, Germany in 2017 and earning gold with a 6-1 win over Russia in 2015.

The win ends a four-year medal streak for the Russians at worlds.