VANCOUVER—The torment began almost immediately.The shot by Ryan Malone of the United States into a wide-open net left Finland goalie Miikka Kiprusoff staring at the ceiling and shaking his head.Backup goalie Niklas Backstrom was still wearing his baseball cap on as he scurried on the ice to get ready to bail out Kiprusoff. who’s day appeared to be over after Eric Johnson made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 8:36 that prompted Finnish coach Jukka Jalonen to call timeout. Kiprusoff stayed in, but was back at the bench 1:32 later when the Blackhawks Patrick Kane scored the first of his two goals.This time, Kiprusoff kept his mask on and marched straight down the tunnel toward the dressing room. He returned to the bench soon after and was in place in the corner in time to see Backstrom allow two goals on the first four shots he faced.Kiprusoff had only himself to blame for the start of his nightmare. The U.S. cleared its defensive zone with a nudge of the puck that slid slowly in toward Kiprusoff. Phil Kessel raced up ice and forced Kiprusoff to come way out of his crease to play the puck. The goalie gently swept it away, but right onto the stick of Malone, who quickly fired a shot from the top of the left circle into the vacated net at 2:04 for his third goal.Zach Parise matched Malone when he nestled a shot under the crossbar for a power-play goal off a perfect pass from Paul Stastny at 6:22.The Finns, who committed numerous turnovers with sloppy play that led to goals and other scoring chances, handed the Americans another power play when Toni Lydman rammed Dustin Brown’s face into the boards with a hit from behind with 7:02 gone.Johnson turned that into another power-play goal. It was the first time in this tournament a team scored more than once in a game with a man advantage.Timeout Finland, but by then it was already too late.Kane, who had scored only once in the tournament, struck for back-to-back goals 2:33 apart — one each on Kiprusoff and Backstrom — and Stastny scored 15 seconds after Kane’s second to make it 6-0 with 7:14 left in as one-sided as a period can be.Other than cheers from American fans in the crowd, the biggest outburst came when it was announced that only one minute was left in the period in which the U.S. held a 13-4 shots edge
