HELSINKI, FINLAND (AP) -- Russia's Evgeni Malkin scored three goals to lead his team to a 6-2 win Saturday over Finland in the semifinal of the World Championships.
The 25-year-old forward and regular-season scoring king for Pittsburgh Penguins this season scored twice in the first period against reigning world champion Finland and completed a hat trick in the second period.
Russia will face the winner of the game between the Czech Republic and Slovakia later Saturday.
Finland opened the scoring when defender Janne Niskalas deflected a blue line shot at 7:28, but Malkin evened the score at 15:33 shooting through a crowd, and he connected from the slot at 19:06 on a power play. Aleksander Ovechkin made it 3-1, and Malkin's hard slapshot found the far corner at 17:46 in the second period
In the third period, Denis Kokarev, and Sergei Shirokov increased the lead to 6-1. Mikael Granlund scored Finland's second goal with four minutes left.
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