Canada beats Denmark 7-1 at hockey worlds

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his second and third goals of the tournament as Canada cruised to a 7-1 victory over host Denmark on Monday at the world hockey championship.

Team captain Connor McDavid, who plays with Nugent-Hopkins on the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, added three assists to give him seven points through three games.

Josh Bailey, Aaron Ekblad, Jordan Eberle, Ryan O’Reilly and Tyson Jost also scored for Canada, which now has two regulation wins and a shootout loss through three games. Making his second start in as many games, Toronto Maple Leafs backup Curtis McElhinney was perfect until he was beaten on a deflected shot by Jesper Jensen Aabo, 8:07 into the third period. The 34-yearold McElhinney, who is suiting up for Canada for the first time in his career at any level, made 14 saves as he continued his strong bid for the No. 1 job. Monday’s much-anticipated matchup between McElhinney and Maple Leafs goaltending partner, Frederik Andersen, didn’t materialize. Denmark coach Jan Karlsson elected to rest his top netminder against Canada after Andersen faced 80 shots in his first two games.

The host nation is currently in tough to reach the quarterfinal - tied for fifth place after three games, with the only top four advancing to the elimination round. Andersen will be needed for Denmark’s more winnable games through the remainder of the preliminary round.

Sebastian Dahm got his first start of the tournament for Denmark, making 22 saves on 29 shots.

Canada now sits second in the Group B standings, one point behind the United States. Canada’s next game is Thursday at against Norway, which is 0-1-1-0 through two games.