SOCHI, Russia - T.J. Oshie scored four times in the shootout and got the winner in the eighth round, leading the United States past Russia 3-2 Saturday in the thrilling revival of a classic Olympic hockey rivalry.
Cam Fowler and Joe Pavelski scored in regulation for the Americans in the marquee game of the preliminary round. Jonathan Quick made 29 saves and stopped five attempts in the shootout.
International rules allow the same player to take multiple shots after the first three rounds of a shootout, and U.S. Coach Dan Bylsma leaned on Oshie, one of the NHL’s shootout specialists.
The St. Louis forward went 4 for 6 against Sergei Bobrovsky, ending the game with one last slow-developing move past the Columbus goalie. The Americans improved to 2-0 in preliminary-round play, all but wrapping up an automatic berth in the quarterfinals next week.
Captain Pavel Datsyuk scored two goals in regulation and another in the shootout for the Russians, who rallied from a third-period deficit. In a fast-paced game played in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin and an energized home crowd, the Russians also had an apparent goal waved off with 4:40 left because Quick’s net came off its moorings.
INTERACTIVE
Although the game had little impact on the medal race in Sochi, the finish woke up the echoes of a U.S.-Russia rivalry best known for the “Miracle on Ice” at Lake Placid in 1980, when a team of American college students stunned the Soviet Olympic team.
WOMEN’S SPEED SKATING U.S. falls short
Short-track speedskater Emily Scott was knocked down in the women’s 1,500-meter final Saturday as U.S. skaters again fell short of the podium.
Scott, 24, took an early lead, but about halfway through the race Korea’s Kim Alang wiped out and sent the Springfield, Mo., native into the pads at Iceberg Skating Palace. Scott finished in fifth.
Scott had advanced to the final after Korea’s Cho Ha-Ri was penalized in the semifinal. Cho had appeared to push away against Scott, who was trying to move in for position.
Jessica Smith finished second in the B Final. Alyson Dudek did not advance past the quarterfinals.
China’s Zhou Yang took gold, followed by Korea’s Shim Suk Hee and Arianna Fontana of Italy.
No U.S. man advanced past the 1,000 quarterfinals.
J.R. Celski, the top U.S. male skater, was second when he hit a block and crashed. Eddy Alvarez tripped because Canada’s Charles Hamelin fell in front of him. Chris Creveling finished third in his heat, one position short of moving to the semifinal.
CROSS COUNTRY Sweden takes gold
Charlotte Kalla became a three-time medalist Saturday when she made up more than 25 seconds on the anchor leg to give Sweden the gold in the women’s 4x5-kilometer cross-country relay. Days earlier she took silvers in the skiathlon and 10K classic race.
Finland took the silver and Germany the bronze in the relay. It was the first time since 2009 that Norway did not win a women’s relay race. Norway finished fifth.
The U.S. team of Kikkan Randall, Sadie Bjornsen, Liz Stephen and Jessica Diggins finished ninth.
CURLING
Canada tops Russia
The Canadian women’s team qualified for the semifinals with a 5-3 win over Russia. Canada is 7-0 in pool play. Things kept going south for the U.S. team, which has already been eliminated from medal contention. The Americans gave up two points in the final end to lose to Sweden, 7-6. If it is any consolation, it required a measuring to determine the last point.
SKI JUMPING
Stoch wins large hill
Kamil Stoch of Poland pulled off a sweep of the individual jumping golds when he won the large hill. Last Sunday he took the gold on the normal hill. Noriaki Kasai of Japan won the silver and Peter Prevc of Slovenia took the bronze.
No U.S. jumper advanced to the final. Nick Fairall placed 35th, Nick Alexander was 48th and Anders Johnson was disqualified.
The competition was delayed because of swirling winds; snow at the bottom of the course was paper thin because of the warm temperatures.
MEN’S SPEED SKATING Davis places 11th
Shani Davis of the United States placed 11th in the 1,500-meter speedskating event Saturday, continuing his disappointing Olympics.
He had finished eighth in his specialty, the 1,000 meters, on Wednesday.
The gold medal was won by Zbigniew Brodka of Poland by a razor-thin margin. He and Koen Verweij of the mighty Netherlands team had the same time in hundredths of a second, but extending the time to thousandths, Brodka was the winner, 1:45.006-1:45.009. Denny Morrison of Canada won the bronze.
After poor performances in the first few races of the games, the U.S. team skated in the standard skinsuits they have been using all year, abandoning new high tech “Mach 39” suits they had broken out for the Olympics. It did not seem to help.
Medal count
NATION G S B TOT
Russia .........................4 6 5 15
Netherlands .................4 4 6 14
United States .......... 4 3 7 14
Norway ........................4 3 6 13
Germany......................7 3 2 12
Canada.........................4 5 3 12
Sweden........................1 5 2 8
Switzerland..................5 1 1 7
Austria .........................2 4 1 7
China ...........................3 2 0 5
Japan ...........................1 3 1 5
Slovenia.......................1 1 3 5
Italy..............................0 2 3 5
Poland .........................4 0 0 4
Belarus ........................3 0 1 4
France..........................2 0 2 4
South Korea ................1 1 1 3
Czech Republic ...........0 2 1 3
Latvia ...........................0 1 2 3
Britain ..........................1 0 1 2
Finland .........................0 2 0 2
Australia ......................0 1 1 2
Slovakia .......................1 0 0 1
Croatia .........................0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan ..................0 0 1 1
Ukraine ........................0 0 1 1
Sports, Pages 23 on 02/16/2014