Russia punches ticket to World Cup semifinal with win over Finland

Team Russia has showed quick strike ability in this World Cup of Hockey.

Their skill at scoring in spurts helped them beat Team North America. It almost helped them send a game with Team Sweden into overtime. And against Finland it pushed them to the semifinal of the tournament.

The mighty Russian forwards used a burst of scoring in the second period to beat the Finns 3-0.

This sets up a big match up with Canada in the semifinal game. The last time Russia beat Canada in a ‘best-on-best’ tournament was the 2006 Winter Olympics with a 2-0 quarterfinal win. At the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Canada dominated the Russians by the score of 7-3 in the quarterfinals of that tournament.

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Russia’s win ensured that wildly entertaining Team North America will not make the semifinal round, ending their World Cup. Russia beat Team North America 4-3 in their round robin game. This was Team North America’s only loss of the tournament, but it was enough to prevent them from going further in the World Cup.

After a slow first period, Russia got on the scoreboard in the second period. Just 3:42 into the frame, Alex Ovechkin found Vladimir Tarasenko low in front of Tuukka Rask for a give-and-go goal.

Then 5:01 into the second, Vadim Shipachev found Ivan Telegin who beat the Finnish defense and put the puck past Rask to make the game 2-0.

In the second, goaltender Sergei Bobrovksy made several big saves during the Finnish push. This included a point-blank save on Mikael Granlund right in front of Bobrovsky.

The Columbus Blue Jackets’ netminder made 21 saves to help the Russians keep some of the Finns’ big weapons neutralized.

In the third period, Russia’s Evgeni Malkin fired a shot past Tuukka Rask to put the game at 3-0 3:39 into the frame. It was Malkin’s first of the tournament. This goal effectively put the game out of reach for Team Finland.

The loss ends a tough tournament for Finland, one of the stronger hockey nations in the world. Finland had medaled in the last three Olympics and was runner-up in the 2004 World Cup, the last time this event was held. The country has some young talent in forwards Patrik Laine and Aleksander Barkov that should help them in the future, but they were mostly held silent during the World Cup.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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