Uff da in Ufa -- U.S. falls to Russia, the hometown team, in WJCs

Russia beat the he U.S. team 2-1 on Friday at Ufa Arena in the preliminary round of the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships.

"Both teams played extremely well," said U.S. coach Phil Housley, who is taking a break from coaching the Stillwater boys' hockey team.

"Both teams were a bounce away from a win and unfortunately for us Russia got the bounce it needed," Housley said, according to a USA Hockey news release. "We'll take a lot from this game tonight. Our game was where it should be and I'm very proud of the way our guys played."

Russia scored first on a power play at 2:42 of the opening period. With defenseman Jacob Trouba off for interference, Albert Yarullin scored on a slapshot from the dot on the left faceoff circle. The puck appeared to go off Jake McCabe, a defenseman and the U.S. captain.

The U.S. had the only two power plays of the second period, capitalizing on the second at 13:18. Trouba, of the University of Michigan, positioned himself at the top of the point and one-timed a feed from Alex Galchenyuk past Russian netminder Andrei Makarov.

Russia retook the lead 2-1 at 4:10 of the third period on a rebound. Valeni Nichushkin walked-in past the U.S. defense and got the first shot. Vladimir Tkachyov followed up with a shot through the five-hole.

The U.S. team had a power play for the final 1:32 of regulation, but could not score.

Goaltender John Gibson stopped 28 shots for the United States, Makarov 41 for Russia.

The U.S. plays Canada next at 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

The American team includes Minnesotans Mario Lucia and Mike Reilly. Lucia, a left winger, was on the line that started every period for the U.S., but he did not have a shot on goal and his plus/minus rating was zero. Reilly, a defenseman, had two shots on goal and was a minus-1.

Chris Peters from the United States of Hockey has a complete rundown, including links and video, here.

ETC.

Trouba was named Team USA's player of the game ... Galchenyuk leads the U.S. in assists (three) and points (1-3--4) for the tournament. ... This was the first time the U.S. has played Russia in this tournament since 2008.

The U.S. junior team is 6-20-0 now against Russia, but 3-4-0 in the last seven meetings. ... Friday's crowd in Ufa was 7,620, a sellout.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period
Team 1 2 3 Total
USA 0 1 0 1
RUS 1 0 1 2

First Period – Scoring: 1, RUS, Yarullin (Nesterov, Yakupov), 2:42 (pp). Penalties: USA, Trouba (interference), 2:29; RUS, Mozer (hooking), 2:57; USA, Team (too many men), 9:36; USA, Gibson (tripping), 11:27; USA, Grimaldi (hooking), 14:37.

Second Period – Scoring: 2, USA, Trouba (Galchenyuk), 13:18, (pp). Penalties: RUS, Dyakov (tripping), 5:12; RUS, Kucherov (holding), 12:28.

Third Period – Scoring: 3, RUS, Tkachyov (Nichushkin, Sergeyev), 4:10. Penalties: RUS, Kapustin (checking from behind), 18:28; RUS, Kapustin (10-minute misconduct), 18:28.
Shots by Period 1 2 3 Tot
USA 10 17 15 42
RUS 8 11 11 30
Goaltender (SV/SH) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Gibson, 59:09 7/8 11/11 10/11 28/30
RUS, Makarov, 60:00 10/10 16/17 15/15 41/42

Power Play: USA 1-4; RUS, 1-4
Penalties: USA 4-8; RUS, 5-18