Marchand, Crosby Lift Canada to World Cup Final Berth

Canada will look to repeat their 2004 World Cup of Hockey championship next week after beating Russia 5-3 to advance to the tournament finals.

If history was to prove itself consistent on Saturday, the Canadian fans at the Air Canada Centre were in for a real treat. Canada has shown dominance against the Russians in recent years, including the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, and most recently at the 2015 World Championships. In all three cases, Canada managed to win gold, with the Russians trailing when it matters most.

Sidney Crosby, who is well known for his Olympic gold medal-clinching goal against the United States back in 2010, had a tremendous tournament heading into the game, so it made sense that he would find the back of the net first. At 7:40 in the first, Crosby fought off a less-than-stellar defensive effort by Dimitri Kulikov before getting past both Alexey Marchenko and Artem Anisimov before wrapping around Sergei Bobrovsky in front for the 1-0 goal.

It took nine minutes for Russia to take their first shot in the second period, but it proved to be their first goal of the game. Jay Bouwmeester made a poor pinch at the blue line, allowing Nikita Kucherov with Vladimir  Nemestnikov a two-on-one opportunity. Kucherov made Canada pay, beating Carey Price blocker side to make it 1-1. It was a rare goal against for Carey Price, who didn't allow a single goal in an elimination game during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi.

Russia would get their second goal on just their fifth shot of the period. It was a strange one, but great hand-eye coordination by Evgeni Kuznetsov resulted in a 2-1 lead for the Russians. Ivan Telegin was stopped in close, with Price deflecting it to the right of the goal. But Kuznetsov was in a perfect spot to pick up the rebound, tapping it out of mid-air to make it 2-1 for the Russians.

There was a bit of nervous energy in the ACC, but a Canadian goal with 2:24 left in the second changed everything. Crosby did a good job of keeping the play alive behind the Russian net before sending it off to Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron then passed it back to Crosby, who made a quick turn before sending it out to Brad Marchand at the doorstep. Marchand would fire the one-timer past Bobrovsky, a goal that would tie things up at two heading into the final period of play.

For the first time all tournament, Canada had a meaningful third period ahead for them, but that just fueled their fire. At 1:16, Crosby found Marchand once again, with the Boston Bruins star firing the shot underneath Bobrovsky's glove and in for the go-ahead goal.

Then, four minutes later, Canada doubled up their advantage. This time, Logan Couture got the puck to Corey Perry in front of the net, who missed on his first chance. After bobbling the puck, Perry got it again and beat a sprawling Bobrovsky, giving Canada the 4-2 lead with 3/4's of a period left.

Russia was hoping for someway of getting back in the game, but a goal by John Tavares put the game to rest. The Oakville, Ontario native had been so dominant throughout the tournament, but didn't necessarily have the stats to back it up. With 10:38 left in the game, Tavares used his deceptive wrist shot to beat Bobrovsky and give Canada the three-goal lead. Russia would get one with about eight seconds left, but it didn't matter as Canada was able to hold on for the 5-3 victory to win the game.

While dejected, the Russians still had a lot of praise for their star goaltender.

"Every game, he (Bobrovsky) just kept us alive," said Alexei Marchenko. "He was great but we should have helped him more."

After the game, Canada kept an upbeat mood

Marchand, who was the biggest star of the game, relished in one of the biggest games of his career.

"Any time you play in a game of that magnitude and win it's an incredible feeling," said Marchand.

Crosby, who connected well with Marchand, thought the team was deserving of the win, especially with how much Canada controlled the puck.

"It was big just because we felt like we were controlling the play and doing a lot of good things and we were down 2-1," Crosby said about Marchand's tying goal.

When asked if Canada was nervous during the second period, Price had a simple answer.

Canada will now await the winner of Sunday afternoon's semi-final match-up between Europe and Sweden, with the winner going on to face Canada in a best-of-three final series. The finals will begin on Tuesday evening at 8:00 PM, with game two happening at the same time on Thursday. If needed, the series will wrap up at 7:00 PM on Saturday.

Follow me on Twitter, @StevenEllisNHL.

Tweets by @eurohockey