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Canada escapes; U.S., Sweden fall at IIHF World Championship

APTOPIX Slovakia Ice Hockey Worlds

Canada’s Mark Stone, foreground, celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal during the Ice Hockey World Championships quarterfinal match between Canada and Switzerland at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Thursday, May 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

AP

KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) -- Damon Severson and Mark Stone helped Canada escape to the world hockey championship semifinals while the United States and defending champion Sweden dropped out.

Canada beat Switzerland 3-2 in overtime Thursday night. Severson tied it with 0.4 seconds left on a goal confirmed by video review. Stone ended it at 5:07 of the 3-on-3 overtime off a pass from Pierre-Luc Dubois.

''In these elimination games, you need to have guys step up. (Severson) stepped up for us to get the game tied, and then Dubois makes a ridiculous play to get it finished for us,’' Stone said. ''Pretty big goal. It sends us to the semifinals, but I didn’t really have to do much. I just put my stick on the ice, went to the net and Dubois makes that winning goal happen.’'

The tying goal came with goalie Matt Murray off an extra attacker. Severson’s shot from the point dribbled over the goal line after it hit goalie Leonardo Genoni’s pad and blocker.

''It’s one of those things that you can’t really make it up. We were very fortunate to get that late goal,’' Severson said. ''It was a 2-1 hockey game the entire third period and the goalie was playing great. We got a lot of chances but we just couldn’t seem to sneak one by him. With under a second left I just took a shot and it ended up bouncing in. To score a goal like on a big stage like this is definitely very exciting.’'

Stone had a goal and an assist in regulation. Nico Hischier and Sven Andrighetto scored for Switzerland.

In the semifinals Saturday, Canada will face the Czech Republic, and Russia will play Finland.

In Bratislava, Nikita Gusev and Mikhail Sergachyov each had a goal and two assists in Russia’s 4-3 victory over the United States. Kirill Kaprizov and Mikhail Grigorenko also scored. Brady Skjei, Noah Hanifin and Alex DeBrincat scored for the Americans.

''It’s disappointing because we had high expectations, so we’re not happy our tournament’s done so quickly,’' Skjei said. ''You know, they’re a really good team. We know that, but we’ve got a good team, too, and we thought we could beat them, and I still think that we could have.’'

Finland beat Sweden 5-4 in overtime in Kosice. Marko Anttila tied it for Finland with 1:29 left and Sakari Manninen won it in overtime.

''We always believed,’' forward Juho Lammikko said. ''We had a lot of chances to put the puck in the net. You never quit until the final whistle. The game before us, you saw Canada score the tying goal with less than a second. It’s a 60-minute game. We didn’t let it bother us when they had the lead. Good things happen when you never give up.’'

The Czech Republic topped Germany 5-1 in Bratislava. Jan Kovar scored twice for the Czechs.

''It’s good that we were able to score some goals and, in the end, we were able to put some space between us, but it wasn’t a one-sided win and we all know that,’' Kovar said. ''We’re glad that we won, but we’re not really all that excited about the way we played for the most part. We can play better and we’ll need to play better.’'