The Americans gave the defending champions their toughest test yet at this year’s tournament, leading 3-2 after two goals from captain Paul Stastny and a slapshot from the blue line by Matt Hunwick.

Russian defenseman Yevgeni Medvedev took a loose puck from in front of a crowded goal to put Russia ahead for good with 6:25 left, and Kirill Petrov then combined with Ilya Kovalchuk to set up Alexander Radulov for another score two minutes later.

Kovalchuk put in Russia’s second goal — his fifth of the tournament — and Anton Belov and Alexej Tereshenko also scored.

Ben Bishop finished with 25 saves for the U.S., while Ilya Bryzgalov had 19 for Russia.

“It was a good game,” Stastny said. “A good learning experience, a measure for us to see where we are. We have played better and better. This was one of the top teams in the tournament, and we played well against them. We were in it for 55 minutes, but when you play a team like that you have to be ready every shift. When you turn it over they’re so skilled that they can put the puck away.”

The U.S. (2-1) plays co-host Finland (3-0) on Wednesday.

“Finland is always good and plays with grit,” Stastny said. “They have the whole crowd in front of them, which makes it fun for us. It’s always fun to play for a big crowd. Like as the Russians were here today in a sold-out arena. We know how it’s going to be, but even harder.”

Steven Stamkos had a goal and three assists, and Taylor Hall scored twice for Canada. Matt Duchene and Claude Giroux each had one goal and one assist, while Andrew Ladd and Jeff Skinner also scored.

In other games Tuesday, Morten Green scored in overtime to give Denmark a 3-2 win over Slovenia and newcomer Austria beat Latvia 6-3. Denmark and Austria earned their first victories, while Slovenia and Latvia fell to 0-3.

Russia leads the Helsinki “H” group with nine points from three games. Finland has eight, and the U.S. and Slovakia six.

Switzerland surprisingly leads the Stockholm “S” group with eight points, with Canada (7) second. Sweden and Norway each have six, the Czech Republic and Belarus three, Denmark two and Slovenia one.

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The Islanders clinched an Eastern Conference playoff spot despite a 4-3 shootout loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday night. With the point they received by reaching overtime, coupled with a loss by the Winnipeg Jets at Washington, the Islanders secured a place in the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

“We got the point, and we secured our spot,” defenseman Andrew MacDonald said, “so we couldn’t be happier.”

John Tavares scored the goal that effectively sent them to the postseason, tying it with 1:01 left in regulation.

“We got our game going, and we got contributions from everybody and started to figure out what it takes to win,” Tavares said, reflecting on the season. “And you know we’re happy to be there and give ourselves an opportunity to compete in the playoffs. A lot of us haven’t had that experience.”

Josh Bailey and Brad Boyes also scored, and Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves for the Islanders.

Riley Nash and Jeff Skinner scored in the shootout to give the Hurricanes the victory. Nash’s score came on his first career shootout attempt and only came about because coach Kirk Muller caught him showing off some moves during the morning skate.

“We just winged it, to be honest with you,” Muller said. “He had a couple good moves and, you know what, let’s see if he can do it in the game. … If I didn’t see him do it this morning, we probably wouldn’t have opted to do it.”

Carolina’s Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist, Patrick Dwyer and Alexander Semin added goals, and Dan Ellis made 36 saves before stopping Frans Nielsen and Boyes in the shootout.

Nash and Skinner beat Nabokov with wrist shots in the shootout to help the Hurricanes sweep the soon-to-be division rival Islanders and earn their first consecutive wins since March 9-12.

“We’re starting to find our identity, and that’s important going into next year,” Ellis said. “For us to come up with big games against teams that are going to be in our division next year, it was a great effort. We really started to get our work boots on, play a smarter brand of hockey and we did really well tonight and got a big win.”

In earning a point for the 11th straight game, the Islanders (8-0-3 in April) wiped out three one-goal deficits — and the last came in dramatic fashion.

“It wasn’t our best game, but we found a way to get a big one late and get the point that we needed,” Bailey said.

Tavares made it 3-3 when his shot clicked off Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk’s skate and past Ellis. The goal originally was awarded to Kyle Okposo, but a review determined that he never touched the puck. Okposo finished with two assists.

Before that, the Hurricanes thought their third victory over the Islanders was firmly in hand.

Carolina went up 3-2 with 2:15 left in the second when Dwyer snapped a loose puck past Nabokov — the third in a series of short-lived leads for the Hurricanes.

Staal and Semin also put them up briefly, only to have the Islanders respond with tying goals. Staal made it 2-1 by scoring on a redirection with 3:40 left in the first, and Semin scored the first goal off a pretty give-and-go-feed from Eric Staal.

But Bailey and Boyes each erased those deficits. Bailey’s goal came on a rebound and made it 2-2 at 7:34 of the second. Boyes forged the first tie at 6:04 of the first when Mark Streit’s cross-ice pass clicked off his skate and past Ellis.

Game notes

New York C Keith Aucoin hit the crossbar on a breakaway about 4 1/2 minutes in. Michael Grabner struck the right post with about 3 minutes left in overtime. … Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu drilled the right post against an open net with about 12 1/2 minutes left. … Hurricanes C Jiri Tlusty, who assisted on Staal’s goal, has points in six straight games.

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