WJC roundup: United States joins Canada, Finland, Russia in semifinals

Saturday was the ninth day of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is being held at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Quarterfinals results

United States 5, Slovakia 2:
John Farinacci
(Arizona Coyotes) scored two goals and the United States advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, scheduled for Monday.
The United States will play Finland in one semifinal (9:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN), and Canada will play Russia in the other (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Arthur Kaliyev
(Los Angeles Kings) and
Cole Caufield
(Montreal Canadiens) each scored a power-play goal for the United States and
Trevor Zegras
(Anaheim Ducks) and
Bobby Brink
(Philadelphia Flyers) each had two assists.
Spencer Knight
(Florida Panthers) made 16 saves.
The line of Farinacci, Brink and
Brett Berard
(New York Rangers) combined for five points (two goals, three assists).
"They've chipped in a goal I think every game now, which has been terrific," U.S. coach Nate Leaman said. "They know how to stay on pucks, they know how to hunt, they know how to get to the net and it's a simple game. They're not making the game hard on themselves. By making the game simple they're all on the same page, they all know where the puck is going to be, they all know how to play as a group together and they have good chemistry. It's fun to watch. The third period every one of their shifts was great."
Matej Kaslik (2021 draft eligible) and Dominik Sojka (2021 draft eligible) scored for Slovakia. Simon Latkoczy (2021 draft eligible) made 38 saves.
"We started good in the third period," Slovakia defenseman
Samuel Knazko
(Columbus Blue Jackets) said. "We said a couple things in the locker room during the intermission, that we have the last 20 minutes and we want to do our best on this tournament. And we tried it and it worked, but not all the way."
Kaslik's goal was the first allowed by the United States in 218:53, a WJC record, dating back to an empty-net goal scored by Russia's
Yegor Chinakhov
in the third period Dec. 25. It was the first goal allowed by Knight, who entered with two straight shutouts, in 158:32.
Kaliyev scored on a one-timer from the left side to put the United States ahead 1-0 at 10:44 of the first period.
The United States took a 2-0 lead at 11:55 of the second period.
Ryan Johnson
(Buffalo Sabres) took a shot from the right point into traffic in the slot, and the puck deflected off Farinacci's knee and past Latkoczy.
Caufield, who turned 20 on Saturday, scored during a United States 5-on-3 advantage to make it 3-0 at 16:53 of the second.
Zegras assisted on the goal, giving him a tournament-high 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in five games. He tied Mike Modano (1989) for the third-most points in a single WJC by a United States player.
Kaslik scored from the left side at 18:32 of the second to make it 3-1.
Sojka scored on the power play to make it 3-2 at 9:10 of the third period. U.S. defenseman Jake Sanderson tried clearing the puck up the wall on the left side of the zone, but Knazko held it in at the blue line. His shot from the point was tipped by Sojka in the slot past Knight.
Farinacci made it 4-2 at 15:46 of the third when he scored on a wrap-around, and Matthew Beniers (2021 draft eligible) scored an empty-net goal to make it 5-2 at 18:36.
Canada 3, Czech Republic 0:
Devon Levi
(Florida Panthers) made 29 saves, and Canada advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is scheduled to take place Monday.
Canada will play Russia in one semifinal (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN), and the United States will play Finland in the other (9:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Dylan Cozens
(Buffalo Sabres) and
Connor McMichael
(Washington Capitals) each had a goal and an assist, and Bowen Byram (Colorado Avalanche) scored for Canada.
"It was a great game," Canada forward
Peyton Krebs
(Vegas Golden Knights) said. "We played a hard 60 minutes. It starts with our leaders, Cozens
(Toronto Maple Leafs) scored with 25 seconds remaining in the third period on Saturday to lift Finland to the semifinals of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is scheduled for Monday.
Finland will play the United States in one semifinal (9:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN); Canada will play Russia in the other (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Hirvonen gathered the rebound of a shot by Mikko Petman (2021 draft eligible) behind Sweden's net, skated in front and stuffed it under goalie
Hugo Alnefelt
(Tampa Bay Lightning) to cap the comeback after being down 2-0.
"We had good pressure for the last minute," Hirvonen said. "We had a chance right before that. I just continued that pressure and then there was a scramble at the net and it went in. It was great."
Henri Nikkanen
(Winnipeg Jets) and
Anton Lundell
(Florida Panthers) also scored for Finland. Kari Piiroinen (2021 draft eligible) made 22 saves.
Lucas Raymond
(Detroit Red Wings) had a goal and an assist for Sweden, and
Elmer Soderblom
(Detroit Red Wings) scored a power-play goal. Alnefelt made 28 saves.
"I think we came out really good," Sweden defenseman
Philip Broberg
(Edmonton Oilers) said. "I think we played a strong, tough game practically the whole game. Maybe a few minutes we didn't play that way and today it cost us the tournament."
After Nikkanen cut it to 2-1 at 5:32 of the second period off a pass from
Eemil Viro
(Detroit Red Wings), Lundell tied it 2-2 at 11:04 of the third with a power-play goal from the right circle.
Raymond put Sweden ahead 1-0 at 14:28 of the first period. Following a turnover by Finland defenseman
Kasper Puutio
(Florida Panthers) in his end, Raymond got the puck back to defenseman
Albert Johansson
(Detroit Red Wings), received a return pass, skated down the left boards and faked a centering pass before beating Piiroinen short side.
Soderblom made it 2-0 at 16:05 when he received a pass from Raymond at the right of Finland's net, put the puck between his skates and lifted a shot past Piiroinen's blocker.

Russia 2, Germany 1:
Vasiliy Ponomarev
(Carolina Hurricanes) scored a shorthanded goal Saturday to help Russia reach the semifinals of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, which is scheduled for Monday.
Russia will play Canada in one semifinal (6 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN, and Finland will play the United States in the other (9:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN).
Danil Bashkirov (2021 draft eligible) also scored for Russia.
Iaroslav Askarov
(Nashville Predators) made 19 saves.
"Germany played the similar way as the Czech Republic team when we played against them in the round robin (2-0 Russia loss Dec. 27)," Russia coach Igor Larionov said. "They played tight defensive hockey and they were just waiting for the counterattacks and they didn't give us many chances. ... They showed a lot of energy and they were our equals in battles for the puck. So basically it was a tough quarterfinal game."
Florian Elias (2021 draft eligible) scored and Florian Bugl (2021 draft eligible) made 25 saves for Germany, which was 0-for-5 with one shot on goal on the power play.
Tim Stuetzle
(Ottawa Senators), who entered the quarterfinals tied for third in scoring at the tournament with 10 points (five goals, five assists), had three shots on goal.
John-Jason Peterka
(Buffalo Sabres), who also scored 10 points (four goals, six assists), had four shots on goal.
Germany was playing in the quarterfinals for the first time since the current tournament format was adopted in 1996.
"In my opinion we could have won the game today," Stuetzle said. "We had some chances if we make them, especially me, I had one, two chances to actually score. And if I score them, I think it's going to be different game. But in the end, we can't change it right now."
Ponomarev put Russia ahead 1-0 at 9:15 of the first period after receiving a stretch pass from
Semyon Chystyakov
(Nashville Predators) and scoring on a breakaway.
Bashkirov made it 2-0 at 8:27 of the second period cutting through the slot.
Elias scored for Germany to cut it to 2-1 at 3:24 of the third period. He stole the puck from Russia forward
Rodion Amirov
(Toronto Maple Leafs) in the high slot and beat Askarov glove side.
"We believed until the end in our [chance to] win," Germany coach Tobias Abstreiter said. "It was a very close game, and like we said in the dressing room, everybody can now be proud of themselves and about the team. It was a lot of good stuff. We had four strong games and at the end right now the disappointment is there, but when did disappointment disappears the pride should take its place."