PRAGUE — Connor Bedard scored twice again and added an assist as Canada beat Denmark 5-1 on Sunday to claim its second straight victory at the Ice Hockey World Championship.
Dylan Cozens, Dawson Mercer and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for Canada, whose goalie Jordan Binnington stopped 19 shots in the Group A match in Prague.
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Center John Tavares recorded an assist as he joined the team for the first time after the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup.
Bédard also scored two goals in Canada’s 4-2 victory over Great Britain on Saturday in the tournament opener. The 18-year-old Chicago Blackhawks rookie opened the scoring 2:24 into Sunday’s game with a shot from the blue line that sailed through traffic in front of the goal.
Cozens doubled the advantage in the first period by firing a wrist shot into the roof of the net during a power play.
Bédard added his second goal at the start of the final period with a one-timer from point-blank range.
Mercer added Canada’s fourth goal into an empty net as Denmark pulled goaltender Frederik Dichow with two minutes remaining and Dubois completed the victory on the power play.
Christian Wejse cut the lead to 2-1 on a rebound midway through the period.
Latvia, last year’s bronze medalists, won 3-2 against France in extra time in Group B in Ostrava.
Earlier, Finland blanked newcomer Great Britain 8-0 to claim their first victory. Oliver Kapanen scored a hat trick and Mikael Granlund had four assists for the Finns who bounced back from a 1-0 shootout loss to the host Czech Republic in the opening match.
Finnish goalkeeper Emil Larmi made 14 saves to achieve the shutout in Prague.
For the British, it was a second straight defeat after losing 4-2 to Canada in their first match.
Slovakia also recorded its first victory, a 6-2 win over Kazakhstan in Group B.
Switzerland faces Austria in Group A and Sweden meets another newcomer, Poland, in Group B later on Sunday. flight
