Americans Kreider, Kincaid help keep Canada off world hockey championship podium

Canada will come home without a medal for the first time in four years after dropping a 4-1 decision to the United States in Sunday's bronze-medal game at the world hockey championship in Copenhagen.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the lone goal for Canada late in the second period, while Curtis McElhinney made 33 saves.

​Chris Kreider scored twice for the United States, while Nick Bonino had the eventual winner with Canada's Ryan O'Reilly serving an interference penalty late in the third period. Anders Lee also scored in a three-goal third period. Keith Kincaid made 24 saves for the win in net.

Canadian coach Bill Peters went back to McElhinney in net after Darcy Kuemper took the loss when Canada fell 5-4 to the United States in its tournament opener on May 4. Kuemper also took the loss in Saturday's 3-2 semifinal loss to Switzerland.

In his four preliminary-round appearances, McElhinney recorded three wins and a loss, with a 1.30 goals-against average and .931 save percentage.

McElhinney kept his team in the game for the first two periods against an American team that generated the lion's share of the game's offence through 40 minutes, outshooting Canada 27-17.

Canadians, Americans look flat

Peters also switched up his skaters, dressing defenceman Thomas Chabot in place of Ryan Pulock, putting young speedsters Mat Barzal and Anthony Beauvillier on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and moving Bo Horvat onto a new-look energy line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Turris.

Playing their third game in four days, both teams looked flat as they tried to rally to earn bronze after disappointing semifinal losses — a 3-2 defeat by the underdogs from Switzerland for Canada and a 6-0 shutout by Sweden for the U.S.

With the gold-medal game between the defending champions from neighbouring Sweden and surprising Switzerland very much set to be

Sunday's main attraction, the mood was subdued in the stands at a sold-out Royal Arena as the two teams skated to a scoreless draw through 20 minutes, with shots 11-6 in favour of the United States.

The second period opened with a string of three U.S. power plays. Canada successfully killed Connor McDavid's tripping penalty that carried over from the last two seconds of the first period, then a cross-checking call on Ryan Murray.

Vlasic cuts into U.S. lead

Kreider opened the scoring at the 6:40 mark of the middle frame. With Joel Edmundson in the box after a roughing infraction, Kreider pressured McDavid into a turnover deep in Canada's defensive zone before deking a sprawling McElhinney.

Seconds after Cam Atkinson narrowly missed an opportunity to put the U.S. team up 2-0 when he slid the puck past the outside of the right post, Canada got on the board with its first goal of the game when Vlasic finished off a three-way passing play with Horvat and Pageau with 1:54 left in the middle frame.

A series of overlapping penalties midway through the third period offered opportunities for both sides, but the game remained tied until a diving Bonino knocked the puck past McElhinney for the goal that proved to be the game winner.

The U.S. team added two empty-net goals. Lee scored with 2:15 left in the third, then Kreider picked up his second of the game with 1:42 remaining.

Canadian captain McDavid and U.S. counterpart Patrick Kane both led their teams in scoring through the tournament. Kane set a new U.S. record with 19 points but didn't record a point in his team's last two games. McDavid finished with 17 points, three shy of the Canadian tournament record of 20 shared by Steve Yzerman (1990) and Dany Heatley (2008).

He had one assist in the semifinal but also failed to get on the scoresheet on Sunday.