QUEBEC CITY -- Dmitry Kalinin, Alexander Ovechkin and Maxim Sushinsky scored first-period goals and Russia beat Switzerland 5-3 on Monday to set up a rematch between the two in the quarterfinals at the ice hockey World Championship.
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The result finished Russia atop its qualifying round group and dropped Switzerland to fourth, requiring them to meet again in the quarterfinals. The second-place Czech Republic will meet third-place Sweden in another quarterfinal in Quebec City on Wednesday.
At Halifax, Nova Scotia, the United States wrapped up its qualifying round schedule with a 9-1 rout of Norway. New York Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky accounted for three for the Americans, who scored three times in each period.
With the win, the United States locked up third place in its qualfifying group.
In Quebec City, Switzerland, which did not get a shot on goal until 10:07 into the game, trailed 4-0 going into the third period, but then got early goals from Rafaele Sannitz and Julien Vauclair to keep it close.
Kalinin crept in from the point to convert a cross-ice feed from Danis Zaripov at 15:21 of the first. Ovechkin tipped Ilya Kovalchuk's point shot in from the slot on a power play at 17:49 and Sushinsky breezed past defenseman Beat Forster and beat Anaheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller at 18:45.
Sergei Fedorov scored with Alexander Semin standing in Hiller's crease 10:27 into the second frame.
The Swiss played a more aggressive game in the third and Sannitz scored on his team's first power play chance 32 seconds in on a point blast that sailed past Evgeny Nabokov. Then Vauclair made an end-to-end rush short-handed and beat Nabokov with an off-wing wrist shot at 5:30.
Hiller was pulled for an extra attacker with three minutes left to play and Sushinsky got his second of the game into the empty net at 17:25. One minute later, Romano Lemm banged in a goal for the Swiss on a feed from Andres Ambuhl.











