Recapping Day 1 at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Ufa, Russia.
Russia 3, Slovakia 2 (OT)
Albert Yarullin saved the Russians from a huge upset by scoring 4:50 into overtime in a Group B win. Down 2-1, Slovakia’s Richard Mraz scored with 36 seconds left in the game to force overtime against the favored tournament hosts. Andrei Vasilevski made 32 saves for Russia and Adam Nagy stopped 24 for Slovakia. Nikita Kucherov scored the first goal of the game for Russia, and also assisted on the overtime goal.
Canada 9, Germany 3
Edmonton Oilers star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and four assists and Mark Schiefele scored two goals to lead Canada to a Group B victory. Canada finished the first period up 2-1 after a late goal by the Germans, but answered in the second period with four goals in the first 14 minutes. Germany cut the lead to 6-3 with two late goals, but Schiefele scored with one second left in the period to put Team Canada back up 7-3. Ryan Strome netted a goal and two assists for the Canadians and Malcolm Subban stopped 25 of 28 shots to get the win.
Finland 5, Latvia 1
Miro Aaltonen had two goals and one assist to lead Finland to a tournament-opening win in Group A play. Finland scored less than two minutes into the game and finished the first period up 3-1. Nikolajs Jelisejevs scored Latvia’s lone goal.
Sweden 4, Czech Republic 1
Sweden scored two goals in the first four minutes of the game and never looked back in a Group A win. Sebastian Collberg, Elias Lindholm, Filip Sandberg and Filip Forsberg all scored for the Swedes. Goalie Joel Lassinantti nearly earned a shutout but was scored on in the final six seconds of the game.
