USA advances to World Junior Championships hockey game against Finland

EDMONTON, Alta. — Arthur Kaliyev scored with 1:16 to go and the United States advanced to the World Junior Hockey Championship game, beating Finland 4-3 on Monday night.

Alex Turcotte, John Farinacci and Matthew Boldy also scored for the United States, which has won gold four times, most recently in 2017.

Spencer Knight, one of eight returning players from an American team that finished sixth last year after a quarter-final loss to Finland, stopped 33 shots.

Kasper Simontaival scored twice and Roni Hirvonen also scored for Finland. Kari Piiroinen made 21 saves.

The United States will face Canada, which beat Russia 5-0 earlier Monday, in the gold medal game on Tuesday. Finland will challenge Russia for bronze.

Turcotte held off a Finnish defenseman to bring a bouncing puck from the top of the crease to open the scoring at 12:39 of the first period.

Finland responded quickly on the power play, with Simontaival finishing off a one-touch pass from Kasper Puutio on stopped play at 14:06.

Knight stopped 18 of 19 shots in 40 minutes and was rewarded by his teammates when USA struck twice 1:07 into the second period to take a 3-1 lead in the third.

Jackson LaCombe caught Finland making a change and launched Farinacci on a breakaway with a slick pass in the middle of his own end, the American forward slamming the puck past Piiroinen at 15:53 ​​of the second.

Then, while on the power play, Boldy nabbed a perfect pass from Trevor Zegras to the side of the net with three minutes left in the period.

Zegras’ assist gives him 16 points in six games and ties him with Jeremy Roenick (1989) for the second-highest single-tournament point total in American history. Doug Weight set the record with 19 points in 1991.

Simontaival pulled Finland within a point midway through the third, and Hirvonen tied the game on the power play with 3:43 to go.

Alex Newhook started Canada in just 59 seconds against Russia. Connor McMichael, Cole Perfetti and Braden Schneider also scored, and Dylan Cozens added an empty net for the defending champions. Devon Levi stopped 28 shots for his third shutout of the tournament.

Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov struggled to hold on to his stick at times and finished with 30 saves.

Newhook returned after suffering an upper-body injury in Canada’s final round-robin game against Finland on Thursday. The Colorado Avalanche prospect missed Saturday’s quarterfinal game against the Czech Republic but looked healthy on Monday when he scored his third goal of the tournament on his first shift of the game.

McMichael added to Canada’s lead midway through the first after a battle in net caused Askarov to misplace his stick. Jakob Pelletier sent a clean pass to McMichael, who slotted it in behind the Russian keeper to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

A power-play goal from Perfetti widened the gap 15:05 into the first.

Less than five minutes into the second, Askarov lost his stick again and Canada took advantage. Schneider fired a long shot from the top of the face-off circle and beat the gloved side of the Russian goalie. It was his first goal of the tournament.

Russia got on the board with less than three minutes left in the second half but were ruled out after a challenge for an offside zone entry.

Russia pushed hard in third. Shakir Mukhamadullin nearly scored halfway through the frame, firing a shot at the post.

Both sides were down to four men with just over four minutes left after Peyton Krebs and Zakhar Bardakov were called off for roughing.

The Russians fired Askarov with about three minutes left, and Cozens buried the goal in an empty net with 1:29 left.

The 19-year-old also got two assists in the game; with 16 points (eight goals, eight assists), Cozens leads the tournament in scoring.