Russia awaits Team Canada in IIHF quarters

Just hours removed from a tightly contested overtime win over Latvia, Canada took no chances in its final preliminary round game at the world hockey championship.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist as Canada finished off its round robin schedule with a workmanlike 3-0 win Tuesday over Germany. Less than 18 hours after Connor McDavid’s overtime winner clinched a quarter-final berth, Canada controlled Tuesday’s game from start to finish at Jyske Bank Boxen.

“It was a quick turnaround ( between games),” said Tyson Jost, who picked up his fourth goal of the tournament.

“I thought we handled it well. No excuses, that’s just hockey.” Just 20 seconds into the first period, Brayden Schenn put the Canadians on the board when he directed a pass in the slot from Nugent-Hopkins past sliding German goaltender Niklas Treutle. Nugent-Hopkins scored his fourth of the tournament at 8:14 of the second period with a shot that went between a screened Treutle’s pads.

McDavid, Canada’s leading scorer, picked up his 12th and 13th points of the tournament with assists on Canada’s first two goals. Starting in back-to-back games, Darcy Kuemper wasn’t busy. He stopped 12 shots for his first shutout of the tournament. “I thought we did a good job of taking care of our bodies last night and getting ready to go again,” Kuemper said.

The Canadians travel to Copenhagen and cross over to play Russia, the second-place team from Group A, in a Thursday quarterfinal. Sweden and Latvia will play in the other quarter-final in Copenhagen. Thursday’s quarter-finals in Herning will see Finland meet Switzerland and the U.S. play the Czech Republic.