Co-host France almost upsets Team Canada

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored the winner as Canada survived a scare in a tight 3-2 win over co-host France on Thursday at the world hockey championship in Paris. Canada improved its record to 4-0 despite a dose of adversity. The Canadians fell behind an opponent for the first time in the tournament when Damien Fleury put France up 2-1 on the power play at the 1:37 mark of the second period. Claude Giroux replied on a Canadian man advantage to send the teams to the dressing room in a 2-2 tie after two periods. Vlasic was credited with the winner at 2:22 of the third after a bouncing puck deflected past French netminder Florian Hardy off teammate Jonathan Janil. Canada’s next game will be against 2-1-1-0 Switzerland on Saturday. full-time together. The Canadians are chasing a fifth straight gold medal in Olympic women’s hockey. Canada can take 23 players — 20 skaters and three goaltenders — to the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea. The team is expected to be announced in late December.