ST. PAUL, Minn. – Keith Tkachuk had four goals and an assist to lead the United States into the World Cup of Hockey semifinals with a 5-3 victory last night over Russia.

The St. Louis Blues forward – normally the target of boos at the Minnesota Wild’s Xcel Energy Center – was the difference for the Americans, who avenged last week’s loss to the Russians by eliminating them from the tournament.

The United States will play either Finland or the Czech Republic, who advanced from the European Division, on Friday night. Canada hosts Slovakia in Toronto tonight with the final semifinal berth on the line.

After Russia made it 2-2 with a quick goal in the third period, Tkachuk had a chance to score after Russia’s Dmitry Kalinin turned the puck over in the neutral zone. His shot deflected off a defender’s stick, but Scott Gomez of the New Jersey Devils was there to punch a shot past goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

Just 22 seconds later, Bill Guerin made a nice pass from the left circle to a cutting Tkachuk, who scored his fourth goal of the tournament to give the United States a 4-2 lead.

Russia pulled to 4-3 with 8:56 to play when Ilya Kovalchuk’s slap shot from the left circle beat Robert Esche’s glove during a four-minute power play. Russia couldn’t convert on the second half of the advantage, created when Brian Leetch cut Dainuis Zubrus in the face with a high stick.

But the Americans played tight defense the rest of the way and Tkachuk added an empty netter with 54.7 seconds to play to seal the victory.

Again opting for a younger lineup, U.S. coach Ron Wilson scratched Brett Hull, Craig Conroy, Brian Rolston, and Eric Weinrich. The quicker team helped defeat winless Slovakia last week for the United States’ lone win in round robin play.

In the other quarterfinal game yesterday, Milan Hejduk scored two goals as the Czech Republic ousted Sweden 6-1.

The Czechs, who finished next-to-last in the European pool, will face the winner between Canada and Slovakia in the semifinals when the tournament moves to North America this weekend.

Martin Straka, Martin Havlat, Marek Zidlicky, and Radek Dvorak also scored for the Czechs, who led 5-0 before the Swedes pulled one back late in the third period.

The Czechs started the tournament with two straight losses, at Finland (4-0) and Sweden (4-3). But they showed improvement in the last period against Sweden, scoring three goals, and then trounced Germany 7-2 in the round-robin finale in Prague.

For Sweden, which lost on an overtime goal to Canada in the semifinals of the inaugural World Cup in 1996, it was one of the most bitter setbacks in international hockey.