US beats Russia 3-2 in juniors
TORONTO (AP) — Colin White and Troy Terry scored second-period goals and Tyler Parsons made 25 saves to help the United States beat Russia 3-2 on Thursday in the world junior hockey championship.
The United States took the Group B lead, with Canada in position to match the Americans’ 3-00 start with a victory over Latvia on Thursday night.
Clayton Keller also scored for the United States.
“We showed a lot of heart today and did a great job shutting them down in the third,” Keller said. “All lines can score and have skill, but our best is yet to come. We’re on the right track.”
The Americans opened with a 6-1 victory over Latvia on Monday and beat Slovakia 5-2 on Wednesday. They will complete pool play Saturday against Canada.
“It’s going to be a great game,” Keller said about facing Canada. “It’s not something you get to experience too often, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Kirill Urakov and Kiirill Kaprizov scored for Russia, and Ilya Samsonov made 34 saves. White gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead on a power play at 4:03 of the second, putting the rebound of Charlie McAvoy’s point shot into the open net. Terry made it 3-1 with 8:19 left in the second.
White plays for Boston College, Terry for Denver, Parsons for London in the Ontario Hockey League, and Keller for Boston University. All four have been drafted by NHL teams, White by Ottawa in the first round in 2015, Terry by Anaheim in the fifth round in 2015, Parsons by Calgary in the second round this year, and Keller by Arizona in the first round this year.
“We’re really starting to come together,” Terry said. “We know what kind of a team we are, and when we play like we did today, we can be successful.”
Kaprizov cut it to 3-2 on a power play with 2:43 left in the second period.
The Americans were awarded a penalty shot with 1:29 left in the third after Russian defenseman Sergei Zborovski purposely knocked off the net.
But Samsonov topped Tage Thompson with a poke check.
Keller opened the scoring at 4:14 of the first period, beating Samsonov with a backhander. Urakov tied it just over seven minutes later with a short-handed goal, batting the puck past Parsons.
In Group A play in Montreal, Mathias From scored 47 seconds into overtime to give Denmark its first victory over the Czech Republic in tournament history, a 3-2 decision at Bell Centre.
From beat Daniel Vladar with a high backhander. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect made his first appearance in the tournament after returning from an ankle injury.
“I knew yesterday that I was going to play,” From said. “It was hard to come into the game at first because I didn’t play for some time. (My injury) happened on the first day of training camp.”
Joachim Blichfeld and Nikolaj Krag each had a goal and an assist for Denmark. After opening with a 6-1 loss to Sweden, Denmark beat defending champion Finland 3-2 on Tuesday.
Martin Necas and Filip Hronek scored for the Czech Republic.
“There is nothing much to say,” Czech forward Filip Chlapik said. “It wasn’t a good game for us.”