Music: {allcanada} Canada tops Russia, earns bye into semifinals

Monday, December 31, 2012

{allcanada} Canada tops Russia, earns bye into semifinals

Canada clinched the top spot in Group B -- and a bye into the semifinals -- with a 4-1 defeat of Russia in the final game of the preliminary round on Monday.

Jonathan Huberdeau closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 27.3 seconds left. Dougie Hamilton, Mark Scheifele and Jonathan Drouin, the player of the game for Canada, also scored.

Nikita Kucherov scored the lone goal for Russia. They had a chance for another when Vladimir Tkachev was pulled down by Canada defenseman Ryan Murphy and awarded a penalty shot with 19 seconds left in the third, but goalie Malcolm Subban got his right pad on Tkachev's attempt to push it wide.

Russia, which finished second in Group B, next faces Switzerland in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Canada will face the winner of the United States-Czech Republic quarterfinal game in the semifinals on Thursday.