🇨🇦 Canada 5-3 Russia 🇷🇺
World Cup Of Hockey Semifinal
Air Canada Centre, Toronto 🇨🇦
Saturday, 24 September 2016

Sidney Crosby propelled Canada into the final of the World Cup of Hockey 2016.

Crosby scored once and set up two goals by Brad Marchand, the second putting Canada ahead for good in a 5-3 win against Russia at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

“I think that’s one thing that makes him such a good player, his determination, and he always comes up big in the big games,” Marchand said of Crosby. “You see plays like that, that’s where the leadership comes in. And when you’re able to lead at this level, of a group of leaders, then you’re able to take control, that just shows how special of a player he is, and he created that whole goal, and ultimately that did lead to turning the game around.”

Canada will play the winner of the semifinal between Sweden and Team Europe in the best-of-3 final that begins Tuesday. That second semifinal is here Sunday.

Corey Perry and John Tavares scored, and goaltender Carey Price made 31 saves for Canada.

Sergei Bobrovski made 42 saves for Russia.

“Well, I felt great. I tried to do as much as I can for the team,” said Bobrovski, who stopped 133 of 143 shots in four games. “I worked hard, I give everything I have. They were better than us today.”

Crosby scored 7:40 into the first period for a 1-0 lead, the third time in Canada’s four games he opened the scoring. His three goals are tied for the tournament lead with teammate Jonathan Toews, and Crosby’s seven points are the most.

After Nikita Kucherov and Yevgeni Kuznetsov scored in the second period to give Russia a 2-1 lead, Crosby made a brilliant defensive-zone steal and pass to Marchand for a goal and a 2-2 tie at 17:36.

“If we finish the second period with a (lead) it would be a different game,” Russia captain Alex Ovechkin said. “But they score, have to score a goal, and they play differently.”

Crosby set up Marchand again at 1:16 of the third period, this time for a low, long shot that beat Bobrovski to the far post for a 3-2 lead.

“He’s obviously a great hockey player, but he’s also a player who shows up in the biggest games and he scores goals in the biggest moments,” Patrice Bergeron, the third member of that Canada line, said of Marchand, his Boston Bruins teammate. “So, no surprise as far as I’m concerned, and he deserves credit for the way he’s playing.”

Perry scored at 5:48 for a 4-2 lead, which Tavares extended to 5-2 at 9:22.

Artemi Panarin scored at 19:53 to make it 5-3.

NOTES: Russia centre Pavel Datsyuk, an alternate captain, was unable to play because of a lower-body injury. He was replaced by defenceman Nikita Nesterov as Russia used seven defencemen and 11 forwards. Centre Vadim Shipachyov, who played Thursday against Finland, was scratched…Canada scratched forward Claude Giroux and defenceman Jake Muzzin…Marchand missed a hat trick late in the game when he did not score on a long-range shot with the goalie pulled…Canada has trailed twice in this tournament. Russia led for 1:12 Saturday, and Team USA led for 1:29 in the preliminary round before losing 4-2.

BOXSCORE
1st Period
05:06 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Bouwmeester, hooking
07:40 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Crosby
09:10 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Burns, tripping
13:04 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Tarasenko, roughing
15:29 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Zaitsev, tripping
18:28 – 🇷🇺 PEN – Kuznetsov, high sticking

2nd Period
28:47 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Kucherov (Zaitsev, Malkin)
36:24 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Kuznetsov (Telegin, Dadonov)
37:36 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Marchand (Crosby, Bergeron)

3rd Period
41:16 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Marchand (Crosby, Bergeron)
41:37 – 🇨🇦 PEN – Getzlaf, slashing
45:48 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Perry (Couture, Vlasic)
49:22 – 🇨🇦 GOAL – Tavares (Getzlaf, Vlasic)
59:51 – 🇷🇺 GOAL – Panarin (Kulyomin, Kucherov)

GOALTENDERS
W: 🇨🇦 Price (31-34)
L: 🇷🇺 Bobrovski (42-47)

SHOTS ON GOAL
🇨🇦 17+16+14 = 47
🇷🇺 7+8+19 = 34

ROSTERS
🇨🇦 Goaltenders: Corey Crawford, Carey Price. Defence: Jay Bouwmeester, Brent Burns, Drew Doughty, Alex Pietrangelo, Marc-Édouard Vlasic, Shea Weber (A). Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Logan Couture, Sidney Crosby (C), Matt Duchene, Ryan Getzlaf, Brad Marchand, Ryan O’Reilly, Corey Perry, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews (A).
🇷🇺 Goaltenders: Sergei Bobrovski, Semyon Varlamov. Defence: Dmitri Kulikov, Alexei Marchenko, Andrei Markov (A), Nikita Nesterov, Dmitri Orlov, Alexei Yemelin, Nikita Zaitsev. Forwards: Artyom Anisimov, Yevgeni Dadonov, Nikita Kucherov, Nikolai Kulyomin, Yevgeni Kuznetsov, Yevgeni Malkin (A), Vladislav Namestnikov, Alexander Ovechkin (C), Artemi Panarin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Ivan Telegin.

Article Credit: NHL
Photo Credit: NHL Twitter – IIHF – HHOF – IOC