8th straight win brings Russia to ice hockey worlds semis

Team USA was not able to stop the star-studded Russian team from taking their eighth straight win at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Slovakia on Thursday.

Russia won the quarterfinal clash against the United States 4-3 in Bratislava and advanced to the semifinals.

The Americans have not been crowned at the ice hockey worlds since 1933.

The Russians went ahead in the first period and kept the momentum to the end.

Sixty-seven seconds into the game, Nikita Gusev was the first to strike with an easy rebound. Fourteen minutes later, Gusev assisted Mikhail Sergachyov on a hard one timer that extended Russia's lead to 2-0.

The Americans found their way back into the game early in the second period. Brady Skjei's one-timer bounced off a defender's skate and landed in Andrei Vasilevski's net, 2-1.

Gusev's second vital assist of the match found Kirill Kaprizov early in the third on a two-on-one and he had no trouble scoring into a net left wide open to stretch the lead back to two again.

Noah Hanifin scored with 14 minutes left, but USA's second attempt to keep pace with their opponents was thwarted by Mikhail Grigorenko one minute later on a fastbreak, 4-2.

The Americans pulled their goalie with three minutes left and even managed to cut the deficit to one thanks to Alex Debrincat's goal, but they weren't able to tie the game up.

Russia will face the lowest seeded opponent in the semifinals. It is the first time that this rule is being used during the final stage at the hockey worlds. Previously, a classic pairing based on brackets was used.