2004 World Cup of Hockey

CANADA BEATS RUSSIA, REMAINS UNBEATEN

TORONTO (CP) - Brad Richards and Kris Draper scored in the second period as Canada defeated Russia 3-1 Saturday night to finish undefeated in the opening round of the World Cup of Hockey.

Joe Sakic also scored for Canada, which finished the round robin portion of the tournament with a 3-0 record and will play host to a quarter-final match Wednesday at the Air Canada Centre.

Sergei Gonchar scored in the third period for Russia, which dropped to 1-1 and will settle its playoff position in the four-team North American pool when it takes on 0-2 Slovakia on Sunday night in Toronto.

The sellout crowd of 19,226 was not nearly as loud or lively as the chanting throngs at the Bell Centre in Montreal for Canada's first two wins over the United States and Slovakia.

Related Info:

Finland ties Sweden; wins European pool

But they saw the team's unblemished record improve to 7-0-1 in Toronto since 1972 in games in the World Cup, Canada Cup or Canada-Soviet series.

The Russians displayed some sharp skating and passing, but were often guilty of loose defensive play. Canada missed several glittering scoring chances.

Martin Brodeur's work included a huge sliding save on Alexander Frolov in alone late in the second period.
However, he had a clear view as Gonchar spoiled his shutout bid with a shot from the point that went in off his blocker at 12:46 of the third frame.
Russia made the surprise decision to start Maxim Sokolov in goal in place of Ilya Bryzgalov, who shone in a 3-1 win over the United States on Thursday.
Sokolov made a handful of smart saves in the first period, including one on a Mario Lemieux blast from the doorstep. The crowd gasped in fear of an injury to Canada's captain as Lemieux then fell and was hit in the face by Frolov's skate.

He writhed in pain on the ice but got up after a few minutes and skated to the bench, where he looked to be treated for a cut behind the right ear.
He didn't miss a shift and ended up getting his first point of the tournament when he sent a pass into the crease that Sakic shovelled home 5:43 into the third period.
A weak retaliation penalty taken by Vincent Lecavalier 3:03 into the second frame led to Canada's first two goals.
Simon Gagne chipped the puck past Alex Kovalev at the point and fed Richards on a 2-on-1 for a blast from the slot that caught the top corner at 3:40.
The penalty had just ended when Canada had another odd-man rush in which Lecavalier fed Shane Doan for a shot and Draper trailed in to shoot the rebound into an open net.

Before the game, a moment of silence was held for victims of the hostage-taking incident this week in Beslan, Russia.
Russia brought defencemen Andrei Markov and Dmitry Kalinin into the line-up and sat out Vitaly Vishnevski and Anton Volchenkov. They also sat out 18-year-old No. 1 overall draft pick Alexander Ovechkin.

Notes: Defenceman Wade Redden, who sprained his left shoulder against Slovakia on Wednesday, sat out and may miss Canada's quarter-final game on Wednesday and more. Coach Pat Quinn he only that he is ``not expecting (Redden) will be available for a while' ... Canada considered dressing Kirk Maltby and Patrick Marleau, who have yet to see action, but opted to scratch them along with Jose Theodore, Brenden Morrow and the injured Ed Jovanovski.