Canada sweats out quarter-final berth
National men’s team needs overtime to beat Latvia and earn berth to the next round
HERNING, Denmark — Connor McDavid scored in overtime as Canada edged Latvia 2-1 Monday and clinched a quarter-final berth at the world championship.
McDavid batted his own rebound out of the air past Latvian goaltender Kristers Gudlevskis 46 seconds into overtime to give the Canada the much-needed two points.
Canada made some adjustments after a disappointing 5-1 loss to Finland Saturday. Coach Bill Peters replaced Jaden Schwartz with Brayden Schenn on the top line with McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and also juggled his defensive pairings.
Anthony Beauvillier had the other Canadian goal.
Darcy Kuemper was sharp through two periods in his first start since Canada’s tournament-opening 5-4 shootout loss to the U.S.
Kuemper was beaten on Latvia’s 14th shot of the game, getting a piece of defenceman Kristians Rubins’ point shot with his catching glove before the puck trickled between his pads at 1:50 of the third.
Canada outshot Latvia 9-2 in the third and 31-15 through regulation, but extra time was needed to decide the winner.
Forward Kyle Turris did not play Monday, but he could see action in Canada’s final round-robin game Tuesday against Germany.
With Monday’s win, Canada is guaranteed a top-four finish in Group B and a quarter-final berth. Canada could finish anywhere from second to fourth depending on the result against Germany and the results of two other Tuesday games: Finland versus the U.S. and Denmark versus Latvia.
In Tuesday’s late game in Herning, the hosts from Denmark will meet Latvia to determine the final quarter-finalist.
Norway beat South Korea 3-0 in Monday’s other Group B game. Both teams had already been eliminated from playoff contention.
In Group A action in Copenhagen on Monday, Russia beat Slovakia 4-0 and the Czech Republic beat Austria 4-3.