Tkachuk, Bellows key U.S. rally
Brady Tkachuk and Kieffer Bellows found enough traction in the snow to score shootout goals and cap the United States’ 4-3 victory over Canada yesterday in international hockey’s first outdoor game in Orchard Park, N.Y.
Tkachuk and Ron Perunovich scored 34 seconds apart in the third period to rally the United States from a 3-1 deficit in the world junior championship game played in a steady snowfall at the NFL Buffalo Bills’ New Era Field. Casey Mittelstadt set up all three goals for the United States (1-1-1), which rebounded from a stunning 3-2 loss to Slovakia less than 24 hours earlier.
Bellows also scored in regulation, and goalie Jake Oettinger stopped 19 shots through overtime and all four he faced in the shootout.
Boris Katchouk, Cale Makar and Dillon Dube scored for Canada (2-0-1), which has lost four straight meetings to the Americans and blown two-goal leads in three straight meetings. That includes a 5-4 shootout loss to the Americans in the gold-medal game played at Montreal in January.
Carter Hart stopped 32 shots through overtime.
In the only other tournament game, St. Louis Blues draft pick Klim Kostin scored twice in leading Russia (2-1) to a 5-2 win over Belarus (0-3).
By earning a point for the shootout loss, Canada still has the edge in Group A ahead of the Americans.
The U.S. faces Finland tomorrow.
Pinturault wins 7th
Alexis Pinturault of France secured another World Cup Alpine combined victory when firstrun leader Dominik Paris straddled a gate toward the end of his slalom run in Bormio, Italy.
For his seventh win in the discipline, Pinturault won with a 0.42-second advantage over Peter Fill of Italy.
Kjetil Jansrud of Norway finished third, 0.45 back.
Overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher, the 2015 combined world champion, didn’t enter . . . .
Federica Brignone took a women’s World Cup giant slalom to give the Italian team its first win of the season in Lienz, Austria.
Ranked fourth after the opening leg, Brignone posted the fourth-fastest time and edged first-run leader Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany by 0.04 seconds.
Overall World Cup points leader Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States was 0.08 behind in third, and French world champion Tessa Worley trailed by 0.26 in fourth . . . .
FIFA makes no effort
FIFA has made no attempt to contact Russian doping whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov to gain information about “many” footballers embroiled in the widespread conspiracy by the 2018 World Cup host nation, according to his lawyer . . . .
The comeback plans for Novak Djokovic stalled when a recurrence of pain in his right elbow forced him to withdraw from an exhibition tournament in the United Arab Emirates.
Also in Abu Dhabi, Andy Murray made a tepid return to the court, losing a one-set match 6-2 to Roberto Bautista Agut in an exhibition.