Canada wins, seeks 4th straight title

Three-time defending champion Canada beat the United States 4-1 on Friday and will face Sweden in the final of the world junior hockey championships.

Shawn Matthias opened the scoring early in the second period for Canada, whose only loss in the tournament came against Sweden in a Group A preliminary-round game. That loss ended Canada's 20-game winning streak at the world juniors.

Earlier Friday, Mikael Backlund scored 6:18 into overtime to give Sweden a 2-1 win against Russia in the first semifinal. Canada (5-1) and Sweden (5-0) will meet Saturday.

Karl Alzner, Colton Gillies and Brand Marchand also scored for Canada before James vanRiemsdyk, the No. 2 overall pick by the Philadelphia Flyers and a freshman at New Hampshire, had his fifth goal of the tournament for the United States.

Alzner's goal came after the U.S. team was penalized for too many men on the ice.

The United States and Russia will play in the bronze medal game Saturday.

Russia, a finalist last year, took the lead when Nikita Filatov opened the scoring in the second period. Sweden tied it on Robin Figren's power-play goal with 8:10 left.