PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The United States beat defending champion Russia 4-2 Monday for its third straight win at the ice hockey world championship.

Sweden also made it three victories from three games with a 8-1 rout of Latvia.

The young U.S. team leads Group B in Ostrava with nine points, three more than Russia, and plays Belarus next on Thursday.

In a matchup of two unbeaten teams, Torey Krug used a two-man advantage in the second period to score the go-ahead goal for 2-1 and Mark Arcobello made it 3-1 in the third.

Sergei Plotnikov cut it to 3-2 when the puck deflected into the goal off defenceman Seth Jones but Brock Nelson scored into an empty net with 9 seconds left.

Boston forward Loui Eriksson scored a hat trick for Sweden.