"In the second period we threw the game away," suggested Alexander Ovechkin. "We only had one shot. Of course they played really well today, it's obvious that they're a good experienced team and they showed it today. It's a good thing for us that young players got to play against guys like Crosby, Giroux, Burns because they got some great experience."

The penalty-free opening period was a blend of nerves and skill, fear of making a critical error and blazing speed. Both teams had great chances to score, although Canada held a wide margin in puck possession. Sean Couturier fired a rebound over the open net while being checked, and Ovechkin made a great rush only to fire high when the time came to shoot.

As it turned out, this was the only impressive moment for "Ovi", who was held in check the rest of the night.

"We were a bit nervous at the start," admitted Dmitri Kulikov. "We all felt a lot of pressure and responsibility. Right from the start we couldn't get into the game, then we tried to chase the Canadians but the boat had long sailed."

Cody Eakin opened the scoring at 18:10 when Viktor Tikhonov failed to clear the zone. Tyler Ennis got the puck and curled through the middle, then turned and fired a low shot that went off Eakin’s skate and in. The goal, by Canada’s fourth line, came on Eakin’s third shift of the game.

The player of the period, though, was Crosby, who made several great passes to create good scoring chances for linemates Hall and Eberle.

Canada blew the game open in the middle period. It started harmlessly enough with the fourth line again. Ennis carried the puck in as Eakin fought with Maxim Chudinov in the slot. But while everyone watched this screen, Ennis curled quickly around the net, catching Bobrovski by surprise, and wrapped the puck in just 1:56 into the period.

Then Canada struck for two more quick goals. Dan Hamhuis kept the puck in at the blue line, and Eberle made a beautiful tip of the puck back in front where Crosby wired a phenomenal wrist shot over the goalie’s glove at 7:22.

Just 44 seconds later, Tyler Seguin made it 4-0 on a rush with a delayed penalty in effect. Claude Giroux looked to have lost the puck, but he whipped around and got it to Seguin alone in front. He made no mistake.

"He yelled at me and I didn’t have any more plays, so I just put it there," Giroux deadpanned.

Coach Oleg Znarok called a timeout, but Canada kept the pressure on and refused to be content. There was, after all, half a game left to play. Shots on goal in the second--14-1 for Canada, and 29-6 over 40 minutes.

Canada learned a vaubale lesson about third-period play yesterday against the Czechs. Tonight, they pressed the Russians deep in their own end. Giroux made it 5-0 at 8:58 on a power play thanks to a great pass from the side of the net by Crosby.

Russia ended Smith's shutout streak with a point shot from Sergei Mozyakin that went through the goalie's pads. That goal was the first conceded by Smith in 190:03 of play, going back four games to a 10-1 win versus Austria.

"We got better as the tournament went on, and we saved our best for last here today," Crosby said.

"Our goal just stayed the same, no matter what the score or what the team. I thought we really pushed each other to get better with each game. Some were closer than others, but when you look back to that Sweden game, that 3-0 deficit and the way we showed a lot of character, that was a big building block for our team. When we got through that, I thought our confidence was really big, and we felt like no matter what the team or the challenge, we could overcome it. That was huge."