Finland 3 U.S. 2
COLOGNE, Germany — The United States lost its third straight game at the IIHF World Hockey Championship, going down 3-2 to Finland on Wednesday to wind up in the relegation round.
The Olympic silver medallists will have to finish in the top two of four teams in the relegation round to avoid demotion. The last time the U.S. team lost all three games at the worlds was 2003, when the Americans avoided relegation.
“It’s very disappointing. Nobody wants to get into the relegation round. This group of guys has a lot of pride and we just have to make the best of it,” coach Scott Gordon said. “There’s a fine line between winning and losing. And we just haven’t been able to get on the positive side of that yet. We’ve been very happy with the attitudes and work ethics of these guys. But we are just an offensively challenged team.”
The U.S., led 3:30 into the game on a David Moss’ talley.
Leo Komarov tied it up with four minutes left in the second period.
Scott Clemmensen was beaten again from long range 18 seconds into the third period by Petteri Numerlin and Finland captain Sami Kapanen made it 3-1 with 2:02 left in the game.