Day 6 games
United States 6, Finland 2 -- Jimmy Snuggerud (St. Louis Blues) had a goal and three assists for the United States, which earned the top seed in Group B at Avenir Centre.
Logan Cooley (Arizona Coyotes) had a goal and two assists, Luke Hughes (New Jersey Devils) had a goal and an assist, and Trey Augustine (2023 draft eligible) made 29 saves for the United States (3-0-0-1), which will play Germany in the quarterfinals at Avenir Centre on Monday (4 p.m. ET).
"We knew we had an opportunity for the No. 1 seed, so once that's on the line, it's hard not to get up for those games, especially playing Finland, too," forward Rutger McGroarty (Winnipeg Jets) said. "They're a good team. In the locker room you can tell the boys were ready to go, and it's only going to go up from here. I think we're only going to keep getting better and better."
Lenni Hameenaho (2023 draft eligible) had a goal and an assist, Aleksi Heimosalmi (Carolina Hurricanes) had two assists and Aku Koskenvuo (Vancouver Canucks) made 24 saves for Finland (2-0-1-1), which finished second in Group B and will play Sweden in the quarterfinals at Avenir Centre on Monday (11 a.m. ET).
"We had a really really strong opponent today," Finland coach Tomi Lamsa said. "Really, really speedy team, skillful guys, and I think they started really, really strong the first 10 minutes. We were down, but I think second period we played pretty well the last 10 minutes. I think today, our defense wasn't strong enough. ... Like six goals against, we need to help our goalie more. And also power play had one goal. If you want to win games like that, you need to score more."
Chaz Lucius (Jets) gave the United States a 1-0 lead at 15:22 of the first period, scoring near the left post after Ryan Ufko's (Nashville Predators) initial shot deflected to him off the end boards.
The goal came 11 seconds after a United States power play expired.
Joakim Kemell (Predators) tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 16:27.
Rutger McGroarty (Jets) put the United States back in front 2-1 with his own power-play goal at 4:57 of the second period. Hughes skated end-to-end before dropping a pass to McGroarty, who scored in the left circle.
It was the first power-play goal allowed by Finland in the tournament in 12 chances.
Snuggerud pushed it to 3-1 with a backhand from the slot at 9:02, and Hughes made it 4-1 at 14:48 with a slap shot from the right point after receiving a pass from Cooley from of the right-wing corner.
Hameenaho scored 27 seconds later on a rebound at the right post to pull Finland to within 4-2.
Cooley made it 5-2 at 3:55 of the third period when he knocked in a rebound.
Lane Hutson (Montreal Canadiens) scored on a shot from the left circle at 16:15 for the 6-2 final.
"I think we've cleaned up our D-zone coverage," United States coach Rand Pecknold said. "What we've been better at is possession in the offensive zone. If you're playing offense, you don't have to defend, so that's a big thing we're trying to do here … get more puck possession and play fast. But when we had to defend, I thought we were pretty good. Our back checking was good. Obviously, we had a couple of huge blocks there at the end of the game, too."
Canada 5, Sweden 1 -- Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, had four assists to help Canada finish second in Group A at Scotiabank Centre.
The 17-year-old forward has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) in four games, tying a Canada record for points in a single WJC with Dale McCourt (1977) and Brayden Schenn (2011). Bedard also tied Eric Lindros for the most career points at the WJC with 31 (14 goals, 17 assists in 13 games).
Lindros had 31 points in 21 WJC games (1990-92).
"My dad said some stuff about Lindros
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