Canada advanced to the World Cup of Hockey final with a 5-3 win over Russia at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Saturday.
And, save for a somewhat tense second intermission, the result was never really in doubt.
The Russians looked good out of the gate and were awarded a power-play opportunity early in the opening frame, but after failing to score on a fairly disorganized man advantage - a trend that's continued through the entire tournament - Sidney Crosby scored on a tremendous individual effort, stealing the puck from the Russian defense and beating Sergei Bobrovsky with a backhand.
Russia floundered through another first-period power play and then killed three penalties of its own, but Canada's 1-0 lead after 20 minutes wasn’t all that unexpected. Heading into the semifinals, the host nation had outscored the opposition 8-1 in first periods at the World Cup, while Russia had failed to hit the back of the net in the opening frame.
Held without a shot on goal for almost 11 minutes of play, Russia tied the game midway through the second period as Nikita Kucherov wired a wrist shot past Carey Price after deciding to keep it on an odd-man rush. The pace picked up from that point, and Russia - despite being outshot by a wide margin - took a 2-1 lead at the 16:24 mark of the second period, thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Less than a minute later, Crosby set up a Brad Marchand goal to ensure the game sat level heading into the second intermission.
Canada kicked off the third period with a quick strike, with Marchand sniping the puck past Bobrovsky off another feed from Crosby. Under five minutes later, Corey Perry wrangled a loose puck out from between his skates and lifted a rebound up and over Bobrovsky to give Canada a two-goal lead. The relentless attack continued, capped by a John Tavares goal scored off a nifty toe drag and fatal wrist shot.
Artemi Panarin scored late in the game off an apparent hand pass, but Canada's three-goal outburst in just over eight minutes earlier in the third period was more than enough to fully separate the two sides.
Overall, Canada dominated the contest from start to finish.
Crosby led all players with three points, while Marchand - who scored a pair - and Shea Weber fired six shots apiece on Bobrovsky to pace all Canadians. Nikita Kucherov fired eight of Russia's 34 shots on Price, the most recorded by a single player in the game.
Canada will not play until Game 1 of the final Tuesday, while Sweden and Europe will face off in the other semifinal at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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