Kaliyev powers United States over Russia at world juniors

OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC—Arthur Kaliyev scored twice to lift the United States to a hard-fought 3-1 win over Russia at the world junior hockey championship on Sunday.

Kaliyev struck first with 3:19 left in the middle period with a one-timed shot from the right circle on a power play in the Group B encounter, and Nicholas Robertson doubled the advantage from the slot six seconds later.

Kaliyev wristed a shot past goaltender Amir Miftakhov in the final period for his third goal of the tournament to extend the lead to 3-0, and Russia then pulled the goalie to replace him with Yaroslav Askarov.

U.S. goaltender Spencer Knight made 25 saves. Alexander Romanov scored the lone goal for Russia.

The second victory for the U.S. comes a day after Russia stunned Canada 6-0 to hand the Canadians the worst defeat in the tournament’s history.

The U.S. leads the tightly contested Group B with six points and next plays its Czech hosts on Monday to complete the group stage.

Russia is three points behind the U.S. and tied with Canada, Germany and the Czechs, the three other teams in the group that have a game in hand. Russia faces Germany on Tuesday in its last group game.

Also Sunday, defending champion Finland routed Kazakhstan 7-1 for a second straight win in Group A. Patrik Puistola netted twice for Finland to top the goal-scoring table with four goals.

Finland leads the group with seven points, two more than second-place Sweden that has a game in hand. Switzerland and Slovakia are tied with three points, Kazakhstan has none.

The first four teams in the two five-team groups advance to the knockout stage.