Crosby, Canada crush Germany, 10-0
PRAGUE — Canada eased to another high-scoring victory at the ice hockey world championship Sunday by overwhelming Germany, 10-0.
Edmonton forward Taylor Hall had a hat trick for Canada, which produced an even more dominant performance than in its opening 6-1 victory against Latvia in Group A.
Sidney Crosby and Hall scored 23 seconds apart and Dallas forward Cody Eakin added two more goals in the opening period as the Canadians decided the game early.
“It was good,” Crosby said. “I thought we were better [Sunday] than we were last game. So that’s the most important thing, that you have to get better with every game. It should happen as the guys get more comfortable with the ice.”
Los Angeles goalie Martin Jones made 17 saves for the shutout.
Also Sunday, defending champ Russia and Sweden also made it two consecutive wins with victories over newcomers Slovenia and Austria, respectively.
Evgeni Dadonov contributed two goals and two assists in Russia’s 5-3 win in Group B. In Group A in Prague, Nashville Predators center Filip Forsberg led Sweden with a hat trick and an assist in a 6-1 victory.
Last year’s runner-up Finland rebounded from a loss to the United States by beating Denmark, 3-0, in Group B. Jussi Jokinen, Janne Pesonen and Aleksander Barkov scored for Finland.
Crosby scored for the second consecutive game for Canada, while Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists as the team added another five goals in the second period. Matt Duchene finished off the rout by scoring a penalty in the third, to go with his three assists.
“I think so far we’ve showed the fire power we have,” Duchene said. “But it’s two games, we have the big one against the Czechs next. We have to prove ourselves every night ‘cause all it takes is one loss and you can be out of the tournament.”
Canada plays host Czech Republic today in what might be the first real test for the star-studded team.
Russia also came out attacking in the first period, with captain Ilya Kovalchuk and New York Islanders left winger Nikolay Kulemin scoring 36 seconds apart early. Dadonov added his first with 1:04 left in the period for a comfortable 3-0 lead.
“It’s good that I managed to score a couple of goals but in general we made too many mistakes,” Dadonov said.
Vadim Schipachyov also scored for Russia and added a couple of assists, while Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin played his first game at the worlds.
Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar and Ziga Pance scored for Slovenia in the second period and Robert Sabolic added one in the third.