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Tokarski’s Canadians make final

Canada’s P K Subban is upended by Russia’s Sergei Andronov in the first period. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press
Canada’s P K Subban is upended by Russia’s Sergei Andronov in the first period. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

OTTAWA – Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored in a shootout and Canada beat Russia 6-5 on Saturday night to advance to world junior hockey championship final for the eighth straight season.

Eberle, a first-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers who plays for the Regina Pats in the Western Hockey League, scored twice in regulation, the second with 5 seconds left and goalie Dustin Tokarski of the Spokane Chiefs off for an extra attacker.

Canada will face Sweden – a 5-3 winner over Slovakia in the first semifinal – on Monday night. Last year in the Czech Republic, Canada beat Sweden 3-2 in overtime in the final for its fourth straight title.

Tokarski stopped Pavel Chernov on Russia’s second shootout attempt to end the game. On Russia’s first attempt, Dmitri Kurgryshev hit the post after Eberle scored.

Brett Sonne, Patrice Cormier and Angelo Esposito also scored, and Tokarski made 23 saves. Dmitri Klopov scored twice for Russia, and Maxim Goncharov, Evgeni Grachev and Sergei Andronov added goals. Vadim Zhelobnyuk made 36 saves.

Klopov gave Russia the lead for the first time with 2:20 left in the third period, but with 19,327 fans at Scotiabank Place on their feet, Eberle tied it. Russian defenseman Dmitri Kulikov was on his knees in front of the net trying to freeze the puck, but Eberle stole it and scored on a backhander.

In the first semifinal, Mikael Backlund scored twice, and David Ullstrom, Simon Hjalmarsson and Oscar Moller added goals for Sweden in a comeback victory.

Tomas Tatar scored twice and Marek Mertel had a goal and two assists for Slovakia, a surprise semifinalist after a 5-3 quarterfinal win over the United States on Friday.

“We knew what we were doing – we knew Slovakia is a good team,” Swedish defenseman Victor Hedman said. “They were up 2-1 before the last period, but we knew we were a stronger team than them and they had a tough game (Friday).”

Backlund tied it at 2 on a power play at 7:04 of the third. Ullstrom gave Sweden the lead at 8:52, and Hjalmarsson made it 4-2 at 11:42.