Goalie Keith Kinkaid of the US reacts after missing a shot during the Ice Hockey World Championships bronze medal match between Russia and United States of America, in Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, May 22, 2016.
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Coming into the game with eight assists but without a goal in the tournament, McDavid picked a great time to get his first.
With Derick Brassard serving a delay-of-game penalty, Matthews beat Talbot high to the glove side for his team-leading sixth goal of the tournament.
The third period was a nerve breaking stretch seeing both teams looking to score on power plays, but it was Canada’s shot puck to glide peacefully into the net of the goalless net with two seconds alarm before the final siren. Aho, an NHL prospect, tied up the game with a power-play slapshot before Jussi Jokinen scored a wrist shot off a pass across the crease from NHL No. 1 draft pick contender Patrik Laine.
Oilers forward Taylor Hall finished with 6 goals and 3 assists, while McDavid had 1 goal and 8 assists.
Germany actually led the Russians 1-0 after the first period but Russia used the energy from the home crowd and used a three goal second period to eliminate Germany.
Canada captain Corey Perry became the 27th member of the “triple gold club”, players who have won the World Championship, Olympic Games and Stanley Cup.
Canada were seeking revenge for the 4-0 defeat inflicted by Finland in their group match in Saint Petersburg and began peppering Finland goaltender Mikko Koskinen with shots from the opening face-off. “They sit back, they like to play that trap game, live off turnovers”.
The U.S. just missed matching its bronze-medal finishes from 2013 and 2015.
The groups would normally be based on the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Ranking, but minor adjustments had to be made to them this year to take into consideration special circumstances arising from the event being hosted by two cities in two different countries.
Pavel Datsyuk played almost 21 minutes and Alexey Marchenko almost a dozen in Russia’s 3-1 loss to Finland in the day’s first semifinal.
More than 4.6 million unique Canadian viewers tuned in to TSN and RDS to watch Team Canada win gold. Sebastian Aho scored the other two goals for Finland, who spotted Russian Federation a 1-0 lead after one period. It then ousted the Czech Republic 2-1 in a quarterfinal shootout Thursday and led Canada 3-2 before falling 4-3 in the semifinals Saturday.
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The bronze- and gold-medal games will be played in Moscow on Sunday.
