Russia knocks out Finland from the WJC playoffs

Joonas Donskoi made it 3-1 for Finland in the beginning of the third period and everything pointed to an all-Nordic semifinal between Finland and Sweden but at 56:19 Evgeny Kuznetsov scored to give the Russians new hope and two minutes later Maksim Kitsyn scored the equalizer. In the over-time period the two of them combined for the game-winner. Kuznetsov scored assisted by Kitsyn.

"It was a like a miracle tonight. We were a very lucky team," Kuznetsov said to IIHF.com. "We played hard all game, but it was only at the end we got out goals. We didn´t have many scoring chances for most for the game, but then I got a goal and everything changed."

Russia scored the opening goal halfways through the first period when Yuri Urychev beat Joni Ortio in the Finnish net. Finland's best scorer of the tournament, Teemu Pulkinen tied the game two minutes later. Julius Junttilas 2-1 goal was the only goal of the second period.

In the semi final Russia will play Sweden. When they met in the group stage Sweden won 2-0.

 

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