U.S. downs Belarus at world hockey championships

Tampa Bay centre Nate Thompson broke the tie at the end of the second period to help the United States beat Belarus 5-3 on Thursday in the world hockey championships.

Justin Abdelkader, Cam Atkinson, Bobby Ryan and Paul Stastny also scored, and Jimmy Howard made 23 saves for the United States, 2-1-1 in Group A play.

Alexei Ugarov, Alexei Kalyuzhny and Yevgeni Kovyrshin scored for Belarus.

In the other Group A game, Finland beat France 7-1. Mikko Koivu had a goal and three assists, and Jussi Jokinen scored twice for Finland, the group leader at 4-0-0. Finland will face Canada (3-0-0) on Friday.

In Group B in Stockholm, Evgeni Malkin scored to help Russia beat Denmark 3-1, and the Czech Republic topped Latvia 3-1. Russia and Sweden are tied for the group lead at 4-0-0.