Russia sweeps QMJHL all-stars

THE CANADIAN PRESS

QUEBEC -- Nikita Kucherov scored in regulation and in the shootout as Russia overcame a hat trick by Matthew Bissonnette to defeat the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League all-stars 5-4 in the Subway Super Series on Wednesday.

Russia is now 2-0 in the six-game series after blanking the QMJHL 2-0 in the opener Monday.

Nikita Gusev, Mikhail Grigorenko and Emil Galimov also scored in regulation for Russia, while Daniil Apalkov had the other shootout goal.

Charles Hudon had the other goal for the QMJHL squad.

The Russians wasted little time opening the scoring, as the game wasn't one minute old before Kucherov received a beautiful feed from centre ice to break in on QMJHL goaltender Louis Domingue and beat him with a shot just over his glove.

Domingue stoned Kucherov on a second breakaway opportunity with only 10 seconds left in the first period.

Bissonnette tied it at 2:01 as he directed a wrist shot from the face-off circle that beat goaltender Pavel Suchkov.

Less than four minutes later, Hudon entered the offensive zone with a nice burst of speed and pounced on his own rebound to put Team QMJHL up 2-1.

The Russians came out strong in the first half of the third period as Galimov and Grigorenko put the visitors up 3-2 with back-to-back goals midway through the third period.

Bissonnette then tied it up again at three with his second goal of the game, but Gusev gave the lead back to the Russians with a goal at 12:39.

The crowd erupted with 15 seconds left in the game as Bissonnette completed his hat trick and forced a shootout.

Suchkov finished with 37 saves for Russia while Domingue stopped 31 of 35 at the other end.

The Subway Super Series continues Thursday night in Ottawa with the Russians taking on the Ontario Hockey League all-stars.