Hartman scores, but U.S. falls to Russia in world hockey juniors
MALMO, Sweden — Russia beat the United States 5-3 in the world junior hockey quarterfinals Thursday, rallying to take lead on Nakita Zadorov’s two power-play goals.
Zadorov scored on 5-on-3 advantages in a 1:01 span in the second period to give Russia a 4-3 lead. The 6-foot-4 defenseman plays for the London Knights in the Ontario Hockey League.
New Jersey Devils farmhand Stefan Matteau, West Dundee native and Blackhawks prospect and forward Ryan Hartman and Wisconsin’s Nic Kerdiles had first-period goals for the United States, the tournament winner last year in Russia.
Russia will face the Sweden-Slovakia winner in the semifinals. In the other quarterfinals, Canada beat Switzerland 4-1, and Finland topped the Czech Republic 5-3.
“We want to play Sweden,” Zadorov said. “It was a close game last time (3-2 loss), and we’re going to watch some video and play better.”
Pavel Buchnevich also scored twice for Russia, Buffalo Sabres center Mikhail Grigorenko added a goal, and Andrei Vasilevski made 30 saves.
“The power plays were the game-changer,” said Grigorenko, who has two goals and an assist in 18 games for Buffalo this season. “We scored two goals. We took the lead, and we kept it. Those two 5-on-3s in a row were the key.
“This game made us a better team today than we were yesterday. I think we deserved to win. Hopefully, we can keep the same energy, same compete level for the semifinals.”
“Penalties,” said Matteau, off for tripping when Zadorov scored the tying goal. “They buried their chances. The refs did their job. I know North American teams coming over here ... maybe the officiating is different, but we still gave them a reason to call penalties. That’s what shot us in the foot. But we got power plays, too. We didn’t finish.”
Providence’s John Gillies stopped 20 shots.
“It’s not a good feeling, but I think it will make us all better players,” Gillies said.
Canada advanced to the semifinals for the 16th straight year. It won the last of its record 15 titles in 2009 in Ottawa, Ontario.
Anthony Mantha scored on a penalty shot, beating Marvin Nyffeler with a backhander, and Griffin Reinhart, Curtis Lazar and Derrick Pouliot added goals for Canada. Zach Fucale made 19 saves, allowing only Nico Dunner’s goal with a second left in the second period.
Canadians is 22-0-0 against Switzerland in the event and has a 130-34 scoring advantage.
Finland overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Czech Republic, taking a 4-3 lead on Saku Kinnunen’s goal with 8:21 left.
Saku Maenalanen scored twice, and Juuso Ikonen and Henri Ikonen added goals for Finland. Dominik Simon, Martin Prochazka and Radek Faksa scored for the Czech Republic.