MYTISHCHI, Russia (Reuters) -- Jaroslav Bednar scored with 68 seconds remaining to overcome a furious U.S. rally and give the Czech Republic a 4-3 win and top spot in Group B at the ice hockey world championship on Tuesday.

World champions in 2005 and silver medalists last year in Riga, the Czechs appear poised to make another run for the gold after wrapping up preliminary round play with a victory over a young U.S. team that also entered the contest unbeaten.

"We should defend a 3-1 lead. That didn't happen but I'm happy we scored the deciding goal," Czech coach Alois Hadamczik said. "We saw a very good hockey game tonight."

After going up 3-1 in the final period, the Czechs looked headed for a comfortable win until the Americans struck two late goals from Carolina Hurricanes teammates Chad LaRose and Andrew Hutchinson to tie the score at 3-3.

But Bednar sent the partisan Czech crowd home happy when he took a feed from Jan Marek in front of the U.S. net and slapped the puck past netminder John Grahame for the game winner.

The Czechs, bidding to reach the gold medal final for the third consecutive year, scored the only goal of a fast paced opening period when Petr Caslava tapped in a goalmouth feed from David Vyborny.

The U.S. answered with a powerplay tally from the Nashville Predators' Ryan Suter early in the second but the 1998 Olympic champions regained the lead before the end of the period when Zbynek Irgl blasted a shot from the right boards past Grahame.

The Czechs increased their lead to 3-1 midway through an ill-tempered final period after the U.S. turned the puck over deep in their own zone and Boston Bruins' Petr Tenkrat slammed home a goalmouth pass from Per Cajanek.

But the Americans continued to fight back, LaRose scoring a short-handed goal followed by a powerplay tally from Hutchinson to set up a nail-biting finish.

"I think as the game went on we got stronger," said U.S. coach Mike Sullivan. "I was proud of our players the way we came back from a two-goal deficit.

"To give a goal late like that is disappointing but I think our team can take a lot away from tonight. I was really happy with the way our team competed, the never-say-die attitude."

Russia 5, Finland 4

MOSCOW (AP) -- Petr Schastlivyy scored midway through the third period and Russia held on for a 5-4 win over Finland at the hockey world championships on Tuesday.

After a turnover in the neutral zone, Russian defender Denis Grebeshkov passed to Schastlivyy and the Russian captain beat Finland goalie Fredrik Norrena, who also plays for the Columbus Blue Jackets, with a wrist shot low on the stick side at 12:21 of the third period to give the hosts a 5-3 lead.

Russia took a 4-1 lead into the third period of the Group D game but the Finns rallied on goals by Jukka Hentunen and the Dallas Stars' Jere Lehtinen and pulled within a goal for the final time when Petteri Nummelin converted on a power play at 14:09.

Lehtinen, added to Finland's roster for Tuesday's game, tapped a rebound past goalie Vasili Koshechkin at 8:53 of the third to cut Russia's lead to 4-3.

"We let them get back into it with some penalties," Russian and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar said. "But we knew if we stuck to our game plan we'd be OK and most of the play in the last half of the period was in their end."

With Russian hockey great Boris Mikhailov among the capacity crowd, Russia looked set for an easy win with two goals in the first 6 minutes of the second period that gave Vyacheslav Bykov's team a three-goal cushion.

Atlanta Thrashers winger Ilya Kovalchuk threaded a cross-ice pass to Gonchar, who beat Norrena with a blast from the faceoff circle to make it 3-1 at 3:49.

"Ilya made a great pass," Gonchar said. "Their goalie didn't have a chance to move across the crease and I had a wide-open net."

Tempers flared after Gonchar's goal. Jarkko Ruutu was ejected from the game for an elbow to Schastlivyy, who was slow getting up.

On the ensuing power play, Alexei Morozov, who had three goals in Russia's 8-1 win over Ukraine, scored on a rebound at 6:08 to make it 4-1.

Russia is bidding for its first world title since 1993. Finland last won the tournament in 1995.

Belarus 5, Austria 2

MYTISCHI, Russia (AP) -- Aleksei Ugarov and Oleg Antonenko scored power-play goals midway through the second to give Belarus a 4-2 lead and spoil a two-goal effort by Austria's Andre Lakos. The victory sent it to the Group B qualifying round where it will open Friday against either Germany or Norway.

Denmark 4, Ukraine 3

MOSCOW (AP) -- Rasmus Pander and Kim Staal scored less than 3 minutes apart midway through the first and Denmark held off Ukraine in Group D. Pander's goal at 10:31 of the first put Denmark ahead 2-1 and Staal scored the first of his two for a two-goal cushion.

After Oleksandr Matviichuk pulled Ukraine within 3-2 26 seconds later, Staal added his second midway through the second on a power play to give the insurance the Danes needed.