Vladimir Tarasenko, Evgeni Malkin and Ivan Telegin scored and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 21 saves in Russia's win over Finland. They will now face Canada in the semi-finals on Saturday at 5:00 PM MT (Sportsnet, ESPN, TVA Sports).
Mikael Backlund and Sweden have also advanced to the semi-finals but it is unclear whether Backlund will be deemed healthy enough to play against Team Europe on Sunday at 11:00 AM MT (Sportsnet, ESPN, TVA Sports). Backlund suffered a concussion in Tuesday's game against Finland after taking a hit from Sami Lepisto.
Flames general manager Brad Treliving was optimistic about Backlund's status after consulting with Calgary trainers who are at the World Cup.
"Reports back are he's doing well," Treliving said on Thursday morning. "Like these injuries, he's under the protocol right now. It's sort of a day-to-day situation. We'll monitor. Mikael will be staying (in Toronto) the next couple of days with our group. We'll come up with a plan after that.
"He was doing well. He was feeling good. His symptom scores were low.
"He's hopeful he'll be cleared in a couple of days and get back on the ice with Sweden. But we're going to be real cautious with it."
Finland went 0-3-0 in the tournament and will not advance to the semi-finals. Flames defenceman Jyrki Jokipakka played in two of their three round robin games, putting one shot on net and taking one minor penalty.
Michael Frolik and the Czech Republic have also been eliminated from the World Cup after dropping their first two round robin games. They close out their stint at the tournament on Wednesday night when they take on the USA at 6:00 PM MT (Sportsnet, ESPN, TVA Sports).
