Russians beat Czechs in hockey to vault into first place

Viktor Kozlov also scored a second period goal and Alex Ovechkin assisted on Malkin\'s first goal and had a bone-crunching hit on Czech star Jaromir Jagr to help set up Malkin\'s other goal.

The Russians handed the Czechs their first loss of the tournament to vault past their opponents into top spot in their group.

Pavel Datsyuk added an empty net goal for Russia who finished the preliminary round with seven points on two wins and one overtime loss.

Sunday\'s game was another in a rivalry that has been filled with sport and political overtones over the years.

Jagr wears number 68 as a reminder of the year Soviet tanks rolled into the former Czechoslovakia.

The Czechs beat Russia 1-0 for the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

Forward Malkin opened the scoring for Russia on the powerplay by sneaking a shot between the left arm and blocker of Czech goalie Tomas Vokoun.

Malkin finished off a neat passing play with Alexander Semin in the third to make it 3-1.

But almost as important was a bone-crunching hit by Ovechkin on Jagr that forced a turnover at centre ice to start the play.

Jagr was skating through the neutral zone with the puck when he ran head on into Ovechkin and lost the puck.

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