Wed May 14 22:05:32 2008

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Finland tops USA again; Russia rolls at Worlds

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Halifax, NS (Sports Network) - Sami Lepisto's goal 3:59 into overtime lifted Finland to a 3-2 win over Team USA in the quarterfinal round of the 2008 World Hockey Championship.

Tuomo Ruutu and Janne Niskala also scored for the Finns, who had topped Team USA in overtime in last year's quarterfinals, and will face Russia in this year's semifinals on Friday. Nicklas Backstrom stopped 22 shots in the win.

Drew Stafford scored short-handed and Phil Kessel also lit the lamp for the Americans, who were held scoreless until tying the game with a pair of goals 37 seconds apart late in regulation. Robert Esche made 30 saves in defeat.

Also on Wednesday night, the Russians swamped Switzerland, 6-0, in Quebec City to gain the semifinal round.

Maxim Afinogenov picked up a pair of goals, while Alexander Semin, Danis Zaripov, Sergei Fedorov, and Alexander Ovechkin tallied once each. Evgeni Nabokov breezed to the shutout by making 22 saves.

Martin Gerber and Jonas Hiller combined to surrender six goals on 30 shots for Switzerland.

Russian forward Ilya Kovalchuk will miss the semifinal, suspended for one game after earning his second misconduct of the tournament. The Atlanta Thrashers superstar earned a major for charging against Swiss defenseman Julien Vauclair.

Earlier in the day at Halifax, Derek Roy netted a hat trick and added an assist as Canada crushed Norway, 8-2.

Jonathan Toews netted a goal and contributed two assists while Rick Nash scored twice for the Canadians, who will next play Sweden in the semifinal round on Friday. Cam Ward stopped 22 shots.

Morten Ask and Mathis Olimb each had a goal for Norway, which was in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1990. Pal Grotnes stopped 31 shots in the loss.

In the first quarterfinal contest of the day in Quebec City, Mattias Weinhandl scored with 6:45 left in overtime to lift Sweden to a 3-2 win over the Czech Republic.