RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Trevor Moore scored twice in the second period to help the United States beat Canada 5-1 on Sunday in the world hockey championship.
Jason Robertson, Adam Clendening and Matt Tennyson also scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 26 of 27 shots in relief of injured starter Anthony Stolarz.
“As a backup goalie, you never know when you’re going to get your opportunity,” Oettinger said. “I felt terrible for Anthony, and I hope he’s doing OK, but once I was out there I just had to get ready and do whatever I could to get into the game.
Stolarz injured his right ankle five minutes into the game.
“The guys did a good job in front of me. They made it easier and really helped me get into the game. I can’t say enough good things about how they played today. They helped me settle in and it was a really good win for our team.”
The U.S. rebounded from an opening 2-1 loss to defending champion Finland on Saturday. The Americans will play Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
“It’s a huge win,” Moore said. “Any time that you play a U.S.-Canada game you want to be on the right side of it, especially for a USA player.”
Maxime Comtois scored for Canada. It dropped to 0-2 — the first time it has opened group play with two losses in any world championship or Olympics — in Group B play after a 2-0 loss to host Latvia on Friday. The Canadians will play Germany on Monday.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” Comtois said. “We have to show up tomorrow and hopefully we can get some more goals.”
Also in Group B, Nikita Mikhailis scored the deciding goal in a shootout in Kazakhstan's 2-1 victory over Finland. Outshot 15-1 in the first period and 51-20 overall, Kazakhstan beat Sweden for the first time in the event.
Mathias Trettenes had a hat trick in Norway’s 4-1 victory over Italy.
A, Russia, Slovakia and Switzerland top the Group A standings at 2-0.
Belarus beat Sweden for the first time in the event, winning 1-0 on German Nesterov’s third period goal and 32 saves from Danny Taylor.
Timo Meier scored and Reto Berra made four saves in Switzerland's 1-0 victory over Denmark. Marek Hrivik and Robert Lantosi scored in Slovakia’s 2-1 victory over Britain.
