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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic eliminated the United States at the ice hockey world championship with a 1-0 win Thursday to reach the semifinals.

Boston Bruins forward Pavel Zacha scored a power-play goal in the second period and Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 36 shots in front of the home fans at Prague Arena.

Zacha and Bruins teammate David Pastrnak were playing in just their second game at the tournament. They joined the Czech team after Boston was eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the Florida Panthers.

Seeking an equalizer, the U.S. pulled goalie Charlie Lindgren, but the Czechs held firm and will meet Sweden in Saturday’s semifinals.

The Americans had killed off all 13 power plays they faced in the preliminary round.

“It was a great hockey game and terrific atmosphere. Unfortunately we came up short, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort,” U.S. coach said John Hynes said.

In the other quarterfinals, Nick Paul scored two goals as defending champion Canada beat Slovakia 6-3 to advance to a matchup with Switzerland in the final four.

“We had a great start, and just from there, we were building,” Paul said. “We were winning our battles, putting pucks to the net, and winning our second chances.”

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist and Jared McCann, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Brandon Tanev also scored for 28-time champion Canada.

McCann and Dubois scored in a 90-second span early in the opening period, before Peter Cehlarik made it 2-1 when Brandon Hagel deflected the Slovakian’s pass into his own net.

Canada extended its lead to 5-1 with Paul’s second-period goal followed by two goals within 20 seconds in the third — Guenther first and then Tanev.

Milos Kelemen and Marek Hrivik scored to reduce Canada’s lead to 5-3 before Paul’s second into an empty net.

In Ostrava, Joel Eriksson Ek scored a power-play goal 5:54 into overtime for Sweden to beat Finland 2-1.

Hannes Bjorninen tied the game for Finland at 1-1 with 58 seconds left in regulation — four minutes after Rasmus Dahlin gave the Swedes a 1-0 lead.

Earlier, Switzerland eliminated Germany by edging last year’s runner-up 3-1, also in Ostrava.

Christoph Bertschy led the Swiss with two goals. He gave the Swiss a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal before New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier added the second.

Dominik Kahun reduced the lead to 2-1 midway through the middle period on a power play before Bertschy added his second into an empty net in the third.

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Leafs finish off Senators for spot in East semifinals

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Leafs finish off Senators for spot in East semifinals

OTTAWA, Ontario — Max Pacioretty scored the tiebreaking goal with less than six minutes remaining, leading the Toronto Maple Leafs to a series-clinching 4-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night in Game 6 of their first-round matchup.

William Nylander had two goals, including an empty-netter in the final seconds, and an assist, and Auston Matthews added a power-play goal in the first period for Toronto. Anthony Stolarz made 20 saves.

Brady Tkachuk and David Perron scored for Ottawa. Thomas Chabot had two assists and Linus Ullmark made 19 saves.

The Maple Leafs advanced to take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in their first-round series.

Toronto grabbed a 3-0 series lead, but Ottawa stayed alive with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 4 and a 4-0 shutout in Game 5.

The Maple Leafs finally put away the Senators in Game 6.

With the game tied at 2, Pacioretty — a heathy scratch to start the series — scored the winner with 5:39 remaining off a pass from Max Domi that beat Ullmark to the glove side. It was Pacioretty’s first goal of the playoffs.

Scott Laughton hit the post before Nylander iced it into the empty net with 18.3 seconds left.

Matthews put Toronto up 1-0 on a power play with 70 seconds left in the first period when he fired a low shot through traffic.

Nylander, on his 29th birthday, made it 2-0 just 43 seconds into the second when he ripped a shot past Ullmark after Pacioretty forced a turnover from Senators defenseman Nick Jensen.

Ottawa got on the board at 7:28 when Tkachuk tipped a shot past Stolarz.

Toronto, which beat Ottawa four times in five playoffs series in the early 2000s, came close to restoring its two-goal lead when John Tavares poked a loose puck off the post before Ullmark denied Matthew Knies and Brandon Carlo off the rush.

Perron scored with 7:20 left in regulation to tie it on a shot from below the goal line that went in off Stolarz’s back to make it 2-2.

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Eichel’s 1st goal of series helps Knights advance

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Eichel's 1st goal of series helps Knights advance

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Jack Eichel scored his first goal of the series to give Vegas the lead late in the second period, and Adin Hill held it up on a 29-save night to spur the Golden Knights on to the second round with a 3-2 victory in Game 6 against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Shea Theodore scored first and Mark Stone scored last for Vegas, which will face the winner of the Edmonton-Los Angeles series. The Oilers took a 3-2 lead on the Kings into Game 6 on their home ice later Thursday.

Minnesota has lost nine consecutive series in the NHL playoffs and last made it out of the first round 10 years ago.

Ryan Hartman had two goals for the Wild, including a wraparound with 3:27 left that came 31 seconds after Stone had just given the Golden Knights a two-goal lead.

Stone, who set up Eichel with a long pass out of the zone that was inches out of reach of the stick of Kirill Kaprizov after he dived to try to prevent the breakaway, had four points in the last three games. Neither Stone nor Eichel recorded a single point in the first three games.

Hartman tied the game for the Wild with four seconds left in the first period, a goal safe from replay review unlike his go-ahead score in Game 5 with 1:15 remaining in regulation that was revoked for an offside call after Vegas challenged.

The Wild were unshaken by the consecutive overtime losses that erased their 2-1 lead, confident they measured up to the deeper Golden Knights and could still take the series.

They were quickly playing from behind, though, after Marco Rossi got the dreaded double minor penalty for high-sticking Brayden McNabb with just 2:27 elapsed in the game.

Theodore wristed in a shot from the high slot with Stone and Tomas Hertl screening Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson, immediately quieting the crowd near the end of the first power play. Gustavsson, who was forced out of Game 5 after two periods due to an illness, had 20 saves.

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

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Draisaitl, Hellebuyck, Kucherov are Hart finalists

Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl, Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and Tampa Bay Lightning standout Nikita Kucherov were named finalists for the 2024-25 Hart Memorial Trophy on Thursday.

The award is presented “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team” and voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Draisaitl, 29, led the NHL in goals (52), tied for third in points (106) and was a career-best plus-32 in 71 games this season. He won the award in 2019-20 and is a two-time finalist.

Hellebuyck, 31, led the league in wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight) and was second in save percentage (.925) among goalies to play at least 25 games. The Vezina Trophy finalist as the best goaltender in the NHL is a first-time Hart finalist.

Kucherov, 31, led the NHL in scoring for the second consecutive season with 121 points (37 goals, 84 assists). He won the Hart Trophy in 2018-19 and is a three-time finalist.

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