The U.S. opened the scoring in the second period when forward Dustin Brown put the Americans ahead 1:0.
To the relief of the crowd, Russia's Ilya Kovalchuk leveled the score halfway through the period, and then went on to get a second goal 3 minutes later to give the defending champions a 2:1 lead.
However, the Americans fought their way back with forward Kyle Okposo hitting a shot into the back of the goal to level the game at 2:2 with two minutes of the period remaining.
The third period was hard-fought with both sides battling for possession, seeking the elusive winning goal. And they had to wait until the final moments before Alexander Radulov finally put Russia ahead 3:2 with under 2 minutes remaining on the clock.
