Canada beats Czechia, to play Finns in quarters
Canada defeated the Czechs 3-1in the Latvian capital of Riga to finish second in Group B at the world championship.
Peyton Krebs gave Canada an early 1-0 lead and Tyler Myers scored the go-ahead goal in the third after Martin Kaut tied it in the second. Lawson Crouse finished it off with an empty-net goal.
Canada completed the group with 15 points and set up a quarterfinal game against defending champion Finland, which finished third in Group A. The Finns routed Denmark 7-1. The Czechs finished fourth with 13 points.
Dylan Samberg scored in overtime and the United States beat Sweden 4-3 on Tuesday to finish the group stage with a perfect record. Samberg’s winner from the slot 1:37 into overtime clinched first place for the United States in Group A, two points in front of Sweden, ahead of Thursday’s quarterfinal games.
The Americans lead 3-1 in the third period but Leo Carlsson scored his second goal before Timothy Liljegren equalized with 2:31 left to force overtime.
Nick Bonino and Conor Garland had answered Carlsson’s opener with power play goals and Lane Hutson stretched the advantage to 3-1 on a breakaway.
The United States will play the Czechia in the quarterfinals. Sweden faces co-host Latvia, which reached the quarterfinals by beating Switzerland 4-3 in overtime.
Germany shut out France 5-0 in its final group game to clinch a place in the quarterfinals.
John Peterka had a goal and an assist and goaltender Mathias Niederberger stopped 13 shots for the shutout as Germany finished fourth in Group A with 12 points.
The Germans will next face Group B winner Switzerland.
Slovakia had earlier kept its quarterfinal hopes alive by beating Norway 4-1 in Riga but Latvia’s victory meant the Slovak team was eliminated.