By beating Kazakhstan 5-4, Germany continued their stellar run in the World Hockey Championship and provisionally beat Canada in Group A on Sunday in Finland.
• Read also: Sweden’s first defeat
• Read also: Canada stumbles against the Swiss
The Kazakhs, who had not won one of their six matches, were not easy prey. They came two goals behind late in the game, but Yasin Eliz scored the winning goal for the Germans.
Leonhard Pföderl, Lukas Richel, Jonas Muller and Daniel Fischbusch were other top scorers for Germany, who now face the Swiss, first in Group A, at the end of the preliminary tournament.
Canada, for its part, has two more matches, against Denmark and France.
France in good shape
Switzerland was also at work this afternoon. France came close to creating a surprise by leading 2-0 after one period, but the Swiss came back from behind to win 5-2.
Alexandre Texeier and Valentin Cléro gave the lead to France, but Nico Hescher, Damien Reat and Andrés Ambol hit back in second. Dean Kukan and Hischier – with a brace in an empty cage – pulled out the last nails in France’s coffin.
With a perfect 6-0-0 record, Switzerland retained the top spot in the Group A standings.
Sweden bullies Norway
In the second set, Sweden made short work of Norway, winning 7-1.
Jacob Peterson and Rasmus Asplund scored two goals in the win. Peterson had three points, as did William Nylander (one goal, two assists), who made his World Championship debut after eliminating the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the National League playoffs.
Magnus Helberg saved 19 passes in the Swedish clan. At the other end of the rink, Jonas Arntzen has been tested 35 times, scoring seven times.
Latvians are back
Finally, in the other game on Sunday, Latvia came back from behind with two goals to defeat Great Britain 4-3.
Elvis Merzlikins was sent off from the match after giving three times in 13 shots from the Latvian side. Arturs Silovs was perfect next, saving six times.
Martins Dzirkals stood out for winning three assists in former Rowen Noranda. So the Latvians survive.
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