Russia tops Finland 4-1 in Channel One Cup

MOSCOW (AP) -- World champion Russia rallied to beat Finland 4-1 Thursday in the Channel One Cup, the second leg of the four-nation Euro Hockey Tour.

Olympic champion Sweden was scheduled to play the Czech Republic later Thursday.

Jukka Voutilainen put Finland ahead 1-0 on a power play at 15:18, beating goalie Alexander Eremenko with a wrist shot from three meters.

Russia capitalized on a two-man advantage early in the second period to level at 1-1 on defender Vitali Proshkin's a slap shot from the blue line at 21:48. Russia, which won the Karjala Cup in November, then went on to dominate the game and outshot Finland 28-10 in two periods.

Danis Zaripov found the net from close range to put Russia ahead 2-1 at 46:56. Center Pyotr Schastlivyi came from behind the net to score at 57:48 and Zaripov beat goalie Teemu Lassila from the circle for his second goal with 39 seconds left.

Lassila made 36 saves, and Eremenko had 24.

Russia, which won the world championship title in May for the first time since 1993, extended its unbeaten streak to 20 games since February.

The European Hockey Tour is the unofficial European Championship, consisting of four tournaments in Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic and Sweden.

The Channel One Cup is a successor of the Izvestia Cup, which started 41 years ago. It was later called the Baltika Cup and then the ROSNO Cup, and is named now after the state-run TV broadcaster.

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