Canada demolishes South Korea 10-0, Sweden edges Czechs
HERNING, Denmark (AP) Canada bounced back from a loss to the United States in the opening game at the world ice hockey championship by demolishing South Korea 10-0 on Sunday.
Sweden made another step on the way to defending its title by edging the Czech Republic 3-2 for its second win, and Olympic champion Russia again displayed its offensive might in a 7-0 rout of Austria.
Norway prevailed over Germany 5-4 after a shootout while Sebastian Aho was unstoppable as Finland made it two straight wins by thrashing Latvia 8-1. Switzerland also has two victories after shutting out Slovakia 2-0.
After losing 5-4 to the U.S. in a penalty shootout, Canada was ruthless against South Korea, a championship newcomer in a Group B game in Herning.
Captain Connor McDavid scored his first goal of the tournament and added two assists, and Tyson Jost scored twice and had an assist to lead Canada. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Joel Edmundson also had a goal and two assists each.
''We did everything we had to,'' McDavid said.
Colton Parayko, Ryan O'Reilly and Dubois netted a goal each in a span of 1:25 early in the second period to jump to a 5-0 lead.
The Canadians scored six goals in that period, forcing South Korea to pull Canada-born goaltender Matt Dalton.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Brayden Schenn also scored for Canada.
Goalie Curtis McElhinney made 25 saves for the shutout.
Canada next faces host Denmark.
''I think it's gonna be a very good game, they're a good team, they've got a lot of talent,'' McDavid said. ''I've seen the crowd is getting into it and the fans, they can have a big impact on the game.''
After losing to Finland 8-1 on Saturday, the Koreans must improve to avoid relegation.
In another Group B game, Aho led Finland with two goals and four assists to top the scoring table with 10 points for four goals and six assists in two games.
Aho said ''be positive and have fun out there, play active and skate a lot.''
In Group A in Copenhagen, Sweden took control after the first period goals from forwards Rickard Rakell and Mattias Janmark.
The Czechs used a two-man advantage to cut the deficit to one after Filip Hronek netted with a slap shot in the second.
Mika Zibanejad stretched the lead to two with a backhand to the top of the net in the final period but Tomas Hyka cut it to one again on a power play with 4:14 left. The Czechs pulled goalie David Rittich for an extra attacker with 1:15 to play but failed to replicate their comeback against Slovakia on Saturday.
Mikhail Grigorenko scored twice and Artyom Anisimov, Alexander Barabanov, Kirill Kaprizov, Maxim Mamin and Ilya Mikheyev added one apiece for Russia in Group A.
In its championship opener, Russia also dealt France a 7-0 defeat.
Goalie Henrik Haukeland didn't allow Germany players to score in the shootout in Herning to help lift Norway to its first victory at the tournament. Olympic runner-up Germany has yet to win.