‘We’ve got a lot better,’ McDavid says after shutout win

HERNING, DENMARK • Captain Connor McDavid scored a hat trick to lead Canada to a 5-0 win over Norway on Thursday at the hockey world championship, while the Czech Republic beat Russia 4-3 in overtime.

Earlier Thursday, Cam Atkinson scored in overtime to give the United States a 3-2 win over Latvia, its fourthstraight victory at the tournament.

In another tight game, Slovakia kept its hopes alive for a quarter-final spot by topping France 3-1, with Michal Cajkovsky scoring the final goal into an empty net.

Bo Horvat scored the other two goals for Canada while goaltender Curtis McElhinney only needed to make nine saves for the shutout.

“We came out and did what we had to again,” McDavid said. “I think we’ve got a lot better as the tournament’s going on here. We understand what this tournament is about. We have to win all games.”

After clinching his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer with 108 points, McDavid has four goals and six assists in four games at the championship.

Boston Bruins forwards David Pastrnak and David Krejci joined the Czech team on Thursday morning after being knocked out of the NHL playoffs and immediately made their presence felt.

Pastrnak scored two goals, including the winner with 1:37 left in overtime, and added one assist while Krejci finished with a goal and three assists.

Nikita Nesterov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Alexander Barabanov scored a goal each for Russia, which had shut out its previous three opponents.

The Americans also won after Atkinson scored his third goal in the tournament 1:23 into overtime on a power play.