Helsinki, Finland – Justin Faulk scored his second goal of the game with 22 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the United States to a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan at the 2012 World Championship.
Facing a winless Kazakhstan team, the Americans probably expected a far easier game, considering they came away with a 10-0 victory in the previous meeting.
But Friday's contest required overtime when Talgat Zhailauov tied it with 4:06 left in regulation. Faulk, who put Team USA up 2-1 early in the third, won the game off a feed from Max Pacioretty.
J.T. Brown potted the other American goal, while Richard Bachman stopped 17- of-19 shots.
Vitali Kolesnik played well in defeat, recording 47 saves for Kazakhstan, including 16 in a scoreless first period.
Brown and Konstantin Pushkaryov traded second-period tallies. Pushkaryov lit the lamp while United States captain Jack Johnson served a charging penalty.
Later in Helsinki, Jeff Skinner and John Tavares both had a goal and an assist as Canada beat Finland, 5-3, to move atop the group.
Evander Kane, Jordan Eberle and Alexandre Burrows also scored goals for the Canadians, who moved one point ahead of Finland with 13. Cam Ward had 35 saves in the win.
Kari Lehtonen allowed four goals on 25 shots for Finland, which has the same number of wins (4) as Canada but one fewer point. Mikko Koivu, Jussi Jokinen and Antti Pihlstrom each scored while Jokinen added an assist.
In Stockholm, Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick and five points in Russia's 7-3 win over Sweden.
Russia has won all five of its games and leads all teams with 15 points, three ahead of Sweden in their group. Semyon Varlamov had 43 saves in the win while Viktor Fasth allowed seven goals on 36 shots for Sweden.
Also in Stockholm, Petr Caslava scored two goals and Jakub Stepanek stopped 20 shots for the Czech Republic in a 6-0 rout of Italy.
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