Russia beats Canada, enters semifinals at World Hockey Championship

Russia struck late with two third-period goals on Thursday to beat Olympic champions Canada 2-1 and book a spot in the semifinals at the world hockey championship.

Russia will play Finland on Friday after the Finns beat Norway 4-1. Reigning world champion Czech Republic face Sweden in the other semifinal.

Canada took the lead in the second period when the Ottawa Senators' Jason Spezza slipped the puck past Konstantin Barulin for his fourth goal of the tournament.

The Canadians outshot the Russians by a wide margin but Barulin made some spectacular saves to keep his team in it, until the Russians scored two quick goals, according to The Sports Encounter.

Alexei Kaigorodov and Ilya Kovalchuk scored 3:12 apart in the third period as Russia sent Canada packing with a comeback 2-1 victory Thursday.

"It's always nice to score the big goals, but the important thing is we're moving forward," said Kovalchuk.

The loss was the first in seven tournament games for Canada, which made it a bitter pill for forward Jason Spezza to swallow, TheChronicleHerald.ca reports.