World juniors roundup: Russia beats Czechs to remain undefeated
Pyotr Kochetkov saves 24 to keep Russia atop Group A with Canada
Artyom Galimov and Nikolai Kovalenko both scored shorthanded goals as Russia held on for a 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic at the world junior hockey championship Friday.
Jachym Kondelik scored the lone goal for the Czechs (1-1).
Galimov opened the scoring for Russia (2-0), finding the back of the net at 17:05 of the first period after his teammate Alexander Alexeyev took a two-minute penalty for hooking.
Kovalenko capitalized on another shorthanded chance with five minutes remaining in the second period while killing a holding penalty by Ivan Muranov.
Kondelik cut the deficit to one with a goal 47 seconds later, but Czechs couldn't to complete the comeback.
Lukas Dostal made 26 saves in a losing effort for the Czech Republic. Russia's Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 24 shots for the win.
Russia sits tied atop Group A with Canada at six points apiece.
The Czech Republic is slated to face Canada on Saturday. Russia has a day off before taking on Switzerland on Sunday.
U.S. 8, Kazakhstan 2
Boston University freshman Joel Farabee had a natural hat trick in a 6:52 span of the first period and the United States beat Kazakhstan 8-2 on Friday night to improve to 2-0 at this year's world juniors.
Drafted 14th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers this year, Farabee gave the United States a 2-1 lead with a power-play strike at 5:13 and added goals at 8:53 and 12:05.
"Scoring a hat trick is definitely nice, but I've got to give it to my linemates and the D getting the puck up," Farabee said. "We created a lot of turnovers, which gave me those chances."
Boston College's Oliver Wahlstrom, St. Cloud State's Ryan Poehling, Northeastern's Tyler Madden, Michigan's Josh Norris and Sasha Chmelevski of the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's also scored to help the Americans keep pace with Sweden atop Group B heading into their showdown Saturday night.
Hughes sits
Sweden has a 46-game preliminary round winning streak in the tournament.
Jack Hughes, projected as the top pick in next year's NHL draft, did not play for the Americans. The team says Hughes is listed as day-to-day.
The United States opened Wednesday night with a 2-1 victory over Slovakia. After facing the Swedes, the Americans will complete round-robin play against Finland on Monday night.