Good win.
First and second periods were Finnish domination, but some kind of collapse in 3rd period, and team USA making 1-2 and 2-2 within 37 seconds, made this a thriller. It was kind of a bouncing lucky goal in over-time that made it.
Next Russia - here's news for you: Canadians (= media) are judging teams by how many NHL stars they have, forgetting that team-play is much more important. Despite of formidable team on paper, I don't think Russia is any better than USA. Chances of winning are for real, knowing those star snipers have bad ability to handle setbacks. Remember Moscow, close to 10 years ago? Russia had it's "all-time dream team" on their home ice and ended up...something like 9th, loosing to Switzerland, etc. Almost dropped to B- league.*
Just keep Russia from scoring in 1st period, and Lions will feast again.
Edit: *"2000: The collapse in St. Petersburg
On paper, Russia’s roster for the first World Championship it had hosted since 1986 looked virtually unbeatable. With stars like Pavel Bure, Sergei Gonchar, Alexei Yashin, Alexei Zhamnov, and Valeri Kamensky, the host team was expected to run roughshod over its opponents.
Yet after an 8-1 tournament-opening victory over France, everything went downhill. To the horror of Russian fans, journalists, and players, the home side inexplicably lost four straight games to the USA, Switzerland, Latvia, and Belarus before registering a meaningless win over Sweden to end their tournament. Finishing 11th was the worst result in Russian hockey history. It was a tough way to inaugurate the new arena in St. Petersburg built for the tournament."
http://www.iihf.com/channels/iihf-world ... dd7060b4f9