Helsinki, Finland – Damien Fleury and Antoine Roussel scored to back the 28-save effort of Florian Hardy, as France pulled off one of the biggest upsets in World Hockey Championship history with a 2-1 victory over Russia.
The French beat the Russians for the first time in six all-time meetings. It was Russia's first loss of the 2013 tournament and ended the defending champs' 13-game event winning streak.
Russia was coming off a 5-3 win over the United States on Tuesday and remains tied with the Americans for first place in Group H. Alexander Perezhogin scored the lone goal for the Russians, while Vasili Koshechkin made 17 saves in defeat.
Perezhogin put the Russians on top at 6:57 of the second period, but Fleury tied it just under three minutes later. Roussel gave the French the lead with 3:12 remaining in the second and Hardy made it stand up by stopping all 11 Russian shots he faced in the third.
In Group S, the Czech Republic pulled out a 2-1 shootout win against Denmark.
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