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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Sharp was injured when the Colorado Avalanche’s Ryan O’Byrne hit him against the boards on Wednesday. He had to be helped off to the dressing room after suffering what appeared to be a shoulder injury.

The Hawks take on the Avalanche in Denver on Friday as they try to extend their NHL-record streak of consecutive games to start a season with at least one point to 25.

Marian Hossa, who missed Wednesday’s game, said he’s fine and missing the game had nothing to do with an injury, according to the Hawks’ Twitter account.

Andrew Shaw also will play Friday after taking an elbow to the chin from Paul Stastny on Wednesday, the Hawks tweeted.

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Los Angeles at Colorado
When: 9:00 PM ET, Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FS West (Los Angeles), Altitude (Colorado)

Los Angeles allowed four goals in the first 22 minutes of the 5-2 loss against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Top center Anze Kopitar missed the opener with a knee injury, but said he’ll play Tuesday. The Kings didn’t give up more than three goals in a game during their Cup run. Defenseman Rob Scuderi said the Kings were physically ready, but made mental mistakes. Los Angeles should turn it around on defense, but must be better than it was on offense during the 2011-12 regular season (29th). Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Dustin Brown were all minus-3 against Chicago. Forward Kyle Clifford had seven hits in 8:52 of playing time in the opener.

Despite ending 2011-12 by hoisting the Cup, the Kings ranked near the bottom of the NHL with 194 goals and averaged 2.9 while going 16-4-0 in the playoffs. Los Angeles managed 21 shots and went 0 for 5 on the power play in the opener.

Colorado scored only 17 goals in its last 10 games last season. The Avalanche hope free-agent acquisition PA Parenteau will help improve the offense, but others will have to step up with O’Reilly still in Russia. Landeskog returns after scoring a team-high 22 goals and leading Avalanche in plus-minus (plus-20). Paul Stastny, David Jones, Milan Hejduk, Steve Downie and Duchene will all be expected to contribute. Defenseman Erik Johnson, 24, could be ready to raise his game to a new level. The Avalanche had 19 penalty minutes against the Wild, allowing two power-play goals.

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