TORONTO (AP) Colin White and Troy Terry scored second-period goals and Tyler Parsons made 25 saves to help the United States beat Russia 3-2 on Thursday in the world junior hockey championship.
The United States and Canada, a 10-2 winner over Latvia on Thursday night, are 3-0-0 in Group B play and have wrapped up quarterfinal spots before their showdown Saturday in the pool finale.
It's a game you grow up watching, that New Year's Eve game. To have it in Canada here, you grow up seeing that, we're not going to be liked that's for sure,'' said Charlie McAvoy, a Boston University defenseman and Bruins prospect. ''We're not expecting much love. It's going to be us against kind of their whole country.''
Clayton Keller also scored in the United States' first victory over Russia in the tournament since 2007.
''We showed a lot of heart today and did a great job shutting them down in the third,'' Keller said. ''All lines can score and have skill, but our best is yet to come. We're on the right track.''
The Americans opened with a 6-1 victory over Latvia on Monday and beat Slovakia 5-2 on Wednesday.
Kirill Urakov and Kiirill Kaprizov scored for Russia, and Ilya Samsonov made 34 saves.
White gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead on a power play at 4:03 of the second, putting the rebound of Charlie McAvoy's point shot into the open net. Terry made it 3-1 with 8:19 left in the second.
White plays for Boston College, Terry for Denver, Parsons for London in the Ontario Hockey League, and Keller for Boston University. All four have been drafted by NHL teams, White by Ottawa in the first round in 2015, Terry by Anaheim in the fifth round in 2015, Parsons by Calgary in the second round this year, and Keller by Arizona in the first round this year.
''We're really starting to come together,'' Terry said. ''We know what kind of a team we are, and when we play like we did today, we can be successful.''
Kaprizov cut it to 3-2 on a power play with 2:43 left in the second period.
The Americans were awarded a penalty shot with 1:29 left in the third after Russian defenseman Sergei Zborovski purposely knocked off the net. But Samsonov stopped UConn's Tage Thompson with a poke check.
Keller opened the scoring at 4:14 of the first period, beating Samsonov with a backhander. Urakov tied it just over seven minutes later with a short-handed goal, batting the puck past Parsons.
Taylor Raddysh scored four goals for Canada, Matt Barzal had two, and Dylan Strome added four assists.
Raddysh joined Brayden Schenn, Mario Lemieux and Simon Gagne as the only Canadian players to score four goals in a game in event history.
''It's pretty cool when you see your name beside those guys that are up there,'' Raddysh said. ''It was a fun night. You've got to enjoy the moment for what it is but not rely on it too much and just focus on the next game.''
In Group A in Montreal, Mathias From scored 47 seconds into overtime to give Denmark its first victory over the Czech Republic in tournament history, a 3-2 decision. Also at Bell Centre, Sweden beat Finland 3-1 to improve to 3-0-0 and win the group - and drop the defending champion Finns to 0-3-0.
From beat Daniel Vladar with a high backhander. The Chicago Blackhawks prospect made his first appearance in the tournament after returning from an ankle injury.
''I knew yesterday that I was going to play,'' From said. ''It was hard to come into the game at first because I didn't play for some time. (My injury) happened on the first day of training camp.''
Joachim Blichfeld and Nikolaj Krag each had a goal and an assist for Denmark. After opening with a 6-1 loss to Sweden, Denmark beat Finland 3-2 on Tuesday.
Martin Necas and Filip Hronek scored for the Czech Republic.
''There is nothing much to say,'' Czech forward Filip Chlapik said. ''It wasn't a good game for us.''
Buffalo first-round pick Alexander Nylander scored twice in the third for Sweden, breaking a tie at 1:24 and adding an empty-netter with a minute left. He assisted on Lias Andersson's tying goal in the second.
Felix Sandstrom made 28 saves, allowing only Aapeli Rasanen's first-period goal. Sweden has won 39 consecutive group stage games since an overtime loss to the United States in 2007.
