Russia claims final semifinal spot with dominant win over Finland

Russia punched its ticket to the playoff round after handily getting past Finland 3-0 on Thursday.

With the win, the semifinal matchups are now set. Russia will take on host Canada, while the winner of Group B - Sweden - will go toe to toe with Team Europe.

The loss spelled the end of the tournament for the exciting North American squad, which, despite finishing tied with the Russians in points, was ousted due to Thursday's head-to-head result.

Related: If that's North America's final act, it was a glorious one

After both teams played a rather anticlimactic first period, things started to open up early in the second, the Russians scoring on two beautiful strikes off the sticks of Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Telegin 1:19 apart.

The score would remain 2-0 until early in the third period when - with teams playing 4-on-4 - Evgeni Malkin broke down the left-hand side and fired a puck through Tuukka Rask to give his club a commanding 3-0 lead.

For Russia, the omission of veteran forward Pavel Datsyuk proved to be a non-factor. Prior to the game the team announced that the 38-year-old would miss the game with a "small injury," believed to be of the lower-body variety.

Between the pipes, Sergei Bobrovsky was perfect, steering away all 21 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Rask - minus the Malkin strike - fared admirably, stopping 19 of the 22 pucks thrown his way.

For Finland, the game caps off a disappointing outing that saw the team manage just one goal in three games.

Semifinal action begins Saturday when the Russians will try to avenge a 3-2 overtime loss to Canada in exhibition play. Sweden and Europe will meet Sunday after Europe delivered a 6-2 shelling in its final pre-tournament tuneup.