US Falls To Canada In Men’s Hockey World Championship Semifinal – TeamUSA.org

Brock Nelson takes a shot against Cam Talbot of Canada in the semifinals at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on May 21, 2016 in Moscow.

The United States fell to Canada 4-3 in the semifinal round of the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on Saturday evening at Moscow’s Ice Palace, setting up a battle with the home-standing Russians for the bronze medal on Sunday.

The contest was a rematch of the first game of the tournament, a 5-1 Canada win. The reigning world champion broke on top in the first period, building a lead on goals by Brendan Gallagher and 8:59 and Brad Marchand at 18:02 to go to the first intermission up 2-0. But playing defense in the second period has proven problematic for the Canadians at this tournament, and Saturday was no exception.

The U.S. scoring opened on a power play goal from Auston Matthews, who powered a shot from the top of the left circle to beat Cam Talbot and put the United States on the board at 21:14. Canada had surrendered only one power play goal in 24 tries up to that point, and that was to the United States in the fifth minute of their first game.

Keeping the pressure up, the Americans drew even at 23:57 when the New Jersey Devils’ David Warsofsky sent a rocket in from the right point that hit the back bar of the net and bounced out so quickly that the referees missed the goal. Video review at the next stoppage confirmed Warsofsky’s first goal of the tournament, tying the game.

Two former University of Michigan players then connected when Tyler Motte picked up his first tournament goal on a pass from Dylan Larkin to the front of the net for a score at 28:25 to put the U.S. up 3-2. It was the eighth goal allowed in the second period by Canada, which had surrendered only 11 in the tournament to that point. Derick Brassard cleaned up a puck deflected off Keith Kinkaid’s foot to the left of the net to draw Canada back even at 3-3 at 35:30, a score that stood at the second intermission.

Canada jumped to the lead early in the third period when Ryan Ellis caught the U.S. in a line change, taking a pass from Ryan Murray and unleashing a blast from the top of the right circle to beat Kinkaid glove-side at 41:34. The Canadians would attempt only one shot the remainder of the game, relying on the stellar play of Talbot in the net. He answered the call, turning away 11 American shots to preserve the victory.

The Americans, bronze medalists at last year’s world championships, played in back-to-back semifinals for the first time since 1993-94. Sunday’s game will mark their third appearance in the bronze-medal game in the past four years, an unprecedented streak for the U.S.

Russia emerged from the preliminary round with a 6-1 record, then defeated Germany 4-1 in the quarterfinals before falling to Finland 3-1 in the semifinals. The last time the U.S. faced Russia in world championship play was last year’s semifinal game, which went to the Russians by a 4-0 score.