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Posted: Fri February 20, 1998 at 8:26 a.m EST Russia 7, Finland 4 -------------------Pavel Bure put on a dazzling five-goal performance and Andrei Kovalenko broke a third-period tie as Russia advanced to the gold medal game with a 7-4 victory over Finland. Bure posted a natural hat trick to open the scoring and added the final two goals to move the Russians into Sunday's title game against the Czech Republic , which defeated Canada , 2-1, in a shootout earlier today. The Russians were shut out of the medals at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer and at every World Championship since. Bure, who has nine goals in five Olympic games, scored once on the power play, three times on breakaways and once into an empty net. Kovalenko gave Russia a 5-4 lead at 6:33 of the third period when he wristed a shot passed Finland goalie Jarmo Myllys, who was screened on the play. Saku Koivu had knotted the game 78 seconds earlier when he banged home a rebound past Russian goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov. Bure's fourth goal came on a breakway with 4:07 left in the third period that gave the Russians a 6-4 lead. His empty-net tally with five seconds left iced the win for Russia. "When I get those breakaways I go so fast that I don't think of what I'm going to do," Bure said. "I'm not sure if I'm going to go on the forehand or backhand. I was nervous today." Bure, the team captain, scored twice in the first period and once in the second to help Russia to a 3-0 lead. He began with a power play goal at 9:51, banging in a rebound of a shot by Zhamnov. Bure made it 2-0 at 17:33 on his first of three breakaways. A turnover at center ice by Teppo Numminen led to Bure's third goal just 59 seconds into the second period. Bure stole the puck from Numminen and again skated in alone before beating Myllys to the stick side. Finland rallied to tie on second-period goals by Raimo Helminen, Kimmo Rintanen and Teemu Selanne before Alexei Zhamnov scored with 2:34 to play in the period to restore Russia's one-goal lead. Russia advanced to the gold medal game despite being outplayed over the final two periods. The Finns outshot Russia 22-13 over the final 40 minutes and 31-21 overall. But Shtalenkov turned away 27 shots as he improved his record to 4-0. Russia improved to 5-0 overlall in the tournament. Finland will face Canada in the bronze medal game on Saturday. "We woke up too late," said Finland's Jari Kurri. "We made a lot of mistakes. We were down 3-0, but we chipped away." Russia defeated Finland, 4-3, earlier in the championship round.
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