Men’s hockey: Russians outclass USA, 4-0

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Ilya Kovalchuk scored two back-breaking goals as the Russians outplayed, outhit and outclassed the United States in a convincing 4-0 shutout Saturday night as each team wrapped up pool play at the Olympics.

With the loss, the United States now must play in the qualification round Tuesday. The Russians finished first in Group B and earned a bye into the quarterfinals on Wednesday. U.S. goaltender Ryan Zapolski allowed four goals on 26 shots, including Kovalchuk’s goals less than 33 seconds apart at the end of the second period and start of the third. Los Angeles Kings 2012 draft pick Nikolai Prokhorkin scored the Russians’ first two goals in a dominant performance that U.S. coach Tony Granato and players didn’t think was as lopsided as the score.

“I thought we played well enough to deserve better than a 4-0 game,” Granato said. “I was really happy with the effort and the confidence that we gained in knowing that we could play with them. We just didn’t get the results.”

The U.S. rarely generated the kind of quality scoring chances against Vasily Koshechkin that the Russians did around Zapolski, who played all three preliminaryround games. Koshechkin stopped all 29 shots he faced for his first shutout of the tournament.

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GANGNEUNG, South Ko-