Canada beat Russia to reach World Cup final

Brad Marchand scored twice off a pair of setup passes from Sidney Crosby as Canada rallied to beat Russia 5-3 on Saturday to reach the final of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Crosby opened the scoring 7:40 into the first period as he had a goal and two assists while Marchand finished with two goals for the mighty Canadians who have won all four of their games in the tournament.

The line of Crosby, Marchand and Patrice Bergeron proved to be unstoppable Saturday as they finished the game with a combined seven points in front of the proCanadian crowd at the Air Canada Centre arena. “It was fun playing with Crosby that is for sure,” said Marchand. “He always comes up big in big games. That just shows how special of a player he is.”

Best of three final

Canada advances to the best-of-three final series where they play the winner of the other semi between Sweden and Team Europe. The championship series kicks off Tuesday in Toronto.

This was the latest chapter in the dynamic rivalry between the two most successful nations in hockey history which lately has been dominated by the Canucks. Team Canada extended its winning streak in best-on-best events to 14 straight, dating back to a 5-3 loss to USA in the early rounds of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic men’s hockey tournament.

Sergei Bobrovsky was brilliant in goal for Russia who led 2-1 at one point late in the second period but couldn’t stop the Canadian juggernaut from battling back with three unanswered goals in the first half of the third to take command. – AFP