Canada advances to quarterfinals at worlds

PRAGUE — Canada overcame France 4-3 Saturday to maintain a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship and become the first team to secure a quarterfinal spot.

Defending champion Russia thrashed Belarus 7-0 for its fourth win, last year’s runner-up Finland struck late to blank Slovakia 3-0 for the fourth straight shutout, and Latvia prevailed in overtime to beat Austria 2-1.

Forward Jordan Eberle deflected Bret Burns’ shot into the net on a power play to break a 3-3 tie with 10:42 remaining in the final period. It was his second goal of the game.

“They have a good team, they work hard,” Eberle said about France, which stunned the Canadians 3-2 after a penalty shootout at last year’s worlds.

“Every year there’s a game where you’re in a real fight to get the puck in the net,” he said. “You have to find a way to win, and today we did that with our power play.”

Forward Tyler Seguin also scored twice on power plays for Canada, which outshot France 43-21.

Canada tops Group A with 15 points, followed by Sweden with 11, and the host Czech Republic with 10. Latvia has four while Austria is on three.

The top four teams in each of the two groups of eight will make the quarterfinals.

Seguin and Eberle scored 66 seconds apart in the opening period for a 2-0 lead before Julien Desrosiers pulled one back for France.

Seguin added his second in the middle period, and Canada allowed France to come back in the third on goals from Yorick Treille and Damien Fleury.

Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the tournament and added one assist for Russia. Seven different players scored for the Russians, including captain Ilya Kovalchuk.

“We haven’t always played as well as we should,” Kovalchuk said. “One good game doesn’t make a full season.”

Russia, Finland, and the United States are tied atop Group B with 12 points. Belarus is fourth with 10, and Slovakia remains fifth with seven.

Joonas Donskoi broke the scoreless deadlock for Finland midway through the final period, Juhamatti Aaltonen added the second with 4:27 left, and Leo Komarov finished off Slovakia with an empty net goal seven seconds before the end.

After Pekka Rinne had the previous three shutouts, backup goaltender Juuse Saros stopped all 22 Slovak shots.

Latvia captain Kaspars Daugavins scored the winner against Austria 33 seconds into overtime.

“We still know what’s our job in this tournament, we need to survive,” Daugavins said.

The bottom teams will be relegated.

Brian Lebler put Austria 1-0 ahead in the first period, and Lauris Darzins tied it in the second.

Later Saturday, Sweden could clinch a quarterfinal berth with a victory over Switzerland, and Norway played Denmark.

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