St. Paul, MN (My Sportsbook) - Alexei Kovalev broke a tie in the third period and Viktor Kozlov added an insurance goal, as Russia beat the United States 3-1 at the World Cup of Hockey from Xcel Energy Center.

Dainius Zubrus also scored for Russia, which played its first game of the tournament and will next face Canada in Toronto on Saturday. Ilja Bryzgalov turned aside 19 shots in the victory.

Keith Tkachuk tallied the only goal for the Americans, who suffered a 2-1 loss to Canada in their opener on Tuesday. The U.S. will next face Slovakia on Friday to close its first round, which is a round-robin format and used to determine seeding for the quarterfinals.

Robert Esche played a strong game, but allowed a pair of late ones in the losing effort. The Philadelphia Flyers goaltender allowed three goals on 45 shots, including a fluke tally that allowed Russia to take a 1-0 lead.

Following a scoreless opening session, the Americans came out in the second period and took it to the Russians. USA gained the better scoring chances while Esche kept the door shut on the other end.

Nearly seven minutes in, though, Russia had a great opportunity to open the scoring. Ilya Kovalchuk skated in on a 2-on-1 below the right circle, but was unable to beat the American netminder.

Soon after, Andrei Kovalenko was all alone in the low slot and fired a one- timer off a great pass from Pavel Datsyuk, but hit the far post.

Russia then took a 1-0 lead at 12:20 of the frame. Zubrus hustled down the left-wing side and swooped in behind the net. At the left post, he flipped a cross-crease pass that deflected off the skate of USA defenseman Chris Chelios and into the net.

However, the Americans knotted the contest under two minutes later while on the power play. With Kovalenko in the box for hooking, Team USA went to work as Mike Modano took control along the right half-wall. Modano spotted a streaking Tkachuk, who one-timed the feed from Modano near the left post and lit the lamp at 13:44.

It was Russia which dominated the final period. Kovalev put a nice deke move on Esche at the bottom of the left circle, waited until he went down, and lifted the disc upstairs for a 2-1 lead.

Kozlov finished things off with a hard wrister from the slot that beat Esche through the five hole.

Russia outshot the United States, 45-20, en route to the victory.

In other World Cup action on Thursday in Cologne, Germany, Miikka Kiprusoff turned in his second straight shutout, as Finland posted a 3-0 victory over the Germans.

Teemu Selanne and Kimmo Timonen each notched a goal and an assist for Finland, which improved to 2-0 in the European pool of round-robin play. Jere Lehtinen also scored for the Finns, who blanked the Czech Republic in the tournament opener on Monday.

Olaf Kolzig played well in net for Germany, which has lost each of its two games in the tournament. The Germans fell to Sweden, 5-2, earlier this week.

The Finns cashed in a power play midway through the first period to take a 1-0 lead. Selanne gained control of the puck behind the German net and fed a pass into the slot for Timonen, who snapped a shot from the left circle hash mark over Kolzig's shoulder.

A two-man advantage led to the second goal for Finland, which came with 8:34 left in the second period. Selanne had a shot stopped in front, but the Finns controlled the rebound and Timonen fed Selanne for a one-timer from the left circle that beat Kolzig high to the short side.

The Germans had a great chance to get back into the game late in the second period with a two-man advantage for a full two minutes, but failed to beat Kiprusoff.

Lehtinen put it away for Finland late in the third, backhanding home a shot from the slot.

The Finns will close out round-robin play on Saturday at home against fellow unbeaten Sweden, while Germany will take on the Czech Republic Friday in Prague.