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US Beats Finland to Close Out the Preliminary Round of WJC
VICTORIA, British Columbia — Northeastern’s Tyler Madden scored twice and Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist as the United States closed out the preliminary round of the world junior hockey championship Monday night with a 4-1 win over Finland.
The Americans finished second in Group B behind unbeaten Sweden.
The U.S. will face the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal round. Russia will play Slovakia, Canada takes on Finland, and Sweden will play Switzerland. Games resume Wednesday.
St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling also scored, Michigan’s Josh Norris had a pair of assists and Northeastern’s Cayden Primeau earned the win in net. The Americans outshot Finland 39-28.
Jack Hughes, expected to be the first pick in the upcoming NHL draft, missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury. He has not played since getting an assist in the opening 2-1 win over Slovakia.
In another Group B game, Rasmus Sandin had two goals and an assist and Emil Bemstrom and Nils Lundkvist also scored as Sweden defeated Kazakhstan 4-1 and secured the top spot in the group.
In Vancouver, Pavel Shen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period and Russia defeated Canada 2-1 in a Group A game.
With the win, Russia claimed the top spot in the group. Canada finished second.
Shen, a Boston Bruins prospect, scored 11 minutes into the third period, skating around Canada’s Markus Phillips and tucking the puck behind goalie Michael DiPietro.
Florida Panthers prospect Grigori Denisenko scored Russia’s first goal.
Canada’s Cody Glass scored off an assist from Owen Tippett. DiPietro, a Vancouver Canucks prospect, stopped 29 shots for the Canadians.
Russia’s Pyotr Kochetkov had 30 saves.
In another Group A game, the Czech Republic scored two goals in the first period and went on to defeat Denmark 4-0.