Wednesday, January 4, 2017

United States advances to WJC final

MONTREAL -- Troy Terry scored three goals in the shootout and the United States advanced to the final of the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship with a 4-3 win against Russia at Bell Centre on Wednesday.

The United States will play in the final for the first time since 2013 after Tyler Parsons (Calgary Flames) got his glove on Alexander Polunin's (2017 draft eligible) attempt, which then bounced off the crossbar.

U.S. forward Joey Anderson (New Jersey Devils) hit the crossbar in overtime, and Russia goalie Ilya Samsonov (Washington Capitals) followed that immediately with successive saves on shots by defenseman Caleb Jones (Edmonton Oilers) and Anderson.

Russia forward Denis Gurianov (Dallas Stars) tied it 3-3 with his second goal of the game at 6:04 of the third period, 50 seconds after Samsonov made a glove save on a penalty shot by Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes) at 5:14.

Colin White (Ottawa Senators) scored two goals for the United States, which fell behind 1-0 and 2-1 after never trailing in its first five games of the tournament. Luke Kunin (Minnesota Wild) also scored a power-play goal.

The United States, who defeated Russia for the first time in eight playoff round games, trailed for the first time in the tournament after Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild) scored his tournament-leading eighth goal to put Russia ahead 1-0 at 11:54 of the first period.

Russia's first lead lasted 7:11 until Keller's shot from the right corner struck White on its way past Samsonov to tie it at 1-1 at 19:05.

That ended a 167:24 shutout streak for Samsonov, who shut out Slovakia and Denmark in his previous two starts.

Gurianov gave Russia its second one-goal lead at 2-1 with his first goal of the game at 1:17 of the second period.

Kunin's power-play goal at 10:23 of the second tied it 2-2. White gave the U.S. its first lead, 3-2 with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle for his second of the game at 16:21.

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