World juniors: Russia tops Belarus 4-1

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World juniors: Russia tops Belarus 4-1

The Canadian Press Published Tuesday, December 29, 2015 1:31PM EST

Russia's Maxim Lazarev, left, Vladislav Kamenev and Ivan Provorov celebrate during the 2016 IIHF World Junior U20 Ice Hockey Championships tournament match Russia vs Finland in Helsinki, Finland, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva via AP)

Text:

HELSINKI - Alexander Polunin scored two goals to help Russia to a 4-1 victory over Belarus on Tuesday at the world junior hockey championship.

Maxim Lazarev opened the scoring for Russia at the midway point of the first period at Hartwell Arena. Polunin added a power-play goal a few minutes later and Vladislav Kamenev made it a three-goal game later in the frame.

After a scoreless second period, Alexei Patsenkin got Belarus on the board early in the third period before Polunin added an insurance goal to put the game out of reach.

Russia (2-1-0-0) leads Group B with eight points while winless Belarus (0-0-0-3) remained in last place.

Russia outshot Belarus 32-18.