The Canadian Press
Box score:
First Period:
Yevgeni Kuznetsov opens the scoring for Russia at 7:26 of the first period to make it 1-0, with Nail Yakupov drawing the only assist.
Nikita Nesterov makes it 2-0 Russia on a power-play goal at the 13:50 mark with a helper from Grigori Zheldakov.
Second Period:
Brett Connolly puts Canada on the board at 2:37 of the second, cutting Russia's lead to 2-1. Freddie Hamilton and Jonathan Huberdeau notch the assists.
Yevgeni Kuznetsov answers right back for Russia, notching his second goal of the game at 4:24 in the second to make it 3-1. Alexander Khokhlachev and Nail Yakupov rack up assists.
Yevgeni Kuznetsov pots his third of the night to complete the hat trick at the 8:48 mark, giving Russia a commanding 4-1 lead. (Canada's starting goalie Scott Wedgewood was replaced by Mark Visentin after the goal.)
Alexander Khokhlachev scores Russia's third unanswered goal to make it 5-1 as Yevgeni Kuznetsov draws the assist.
Third Period:
Nikita Kucherov buries another goal for Russia to extend the lead to 6-1 at 7:54 of the third. Ignat Zemchenko and Mikhail Grigorenko pick up the helpers.
Dougie Hamilton nets one for Canada to make it 6-2 at the 9:20 mark, while Ryan Strome and Mark Scheifele grab the assists.
Jaden Schwartz scores another quick goal for Canada, closing the gap to 6-3 at 9:43 of the third. Brendan Gallagher gets credited with the assist.
Brendan Gallagher pots another Canadian goal to make it 6-4 at the 11:59 mark. Dougie Hamilton picks up the helper.
Brandon Gormley scores for Canada to make it a one-goal game, 6-5 Russia at 13:18. It's Canada's fourth goal in a 4:57-span. Brendan Gallagher posts the assist.
Preview:
Goaltender Scott Wedgewood got the start in net for Canada after backstopping the team's win over the Americans in the final round-robin game. Canada finished the preliminary round a perfect 4-0, outscoring opponents a combined 26-5 and earning a bye to the semis. The Russians beat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the quarter-finals to earn their place in the semis.
It's a rematch of last year's gold-medal game in Buffalo, where Russia came back from a 3-0 deficit in the third period with five unanswered goals to stun the Canadians.
The winner will go on to the gold-medal game against Sweden, after the Swedes came back to edge Finland in the other semi-final earlier Tuesday.