Josh Anderson had the eventual game-winning goal and added an assist as Canada downed Italy 6-1 on Sunday at the men’s world hockey championship in Helsinki.
Noah Gregor had a short-handed goal for Canada (2-0), while Travis Sanheim, Nicolas Roy, Kent Johnson, and Dysin Mayo also scored.
“We are all doing what we do best on the ice, and we are helping the team create scoring chances,” said Anderson. “We also take a lot of pride in being dependable in the defensive zone, and we are a pretty confident line right now and we are only going to get better.”
Chris Driedger made 11 saves in Canada’s net for the win.
Phil Pietroniro opened the scoring for Italy (0-2) 12:57 into the game.
“We are progressing well, despite only being together for a week,” said Canada head coach Claude Julien. “I thought today was a good game. We had a bit of a slow start but in the second and third period we were able to find our rhythm.”
Goalie Justin Fazio stopped 24 shots for the Italians.
Anderson scored 8:15 into the second period to break a 1-1 tie as Canada reeled off five unanswered goals for the win.
Neither team scored on the power play, with Canada going 0-for-1 and Italy 0-for-4.
The Canadians face Slovakia on Monday at 9:20 a.m. ET.
“[Slovakia] is a team that we have seen at the Olympics, and they won bronze there, so it is a team that we need to respect,” Julien said. “They are also coming off a loss [on Friday], so no doubt they will come out and play their best game against us. We need to be ready for that challenge.”
Canadian defenceman Thomas Chabot remembers his team scoring late to eke out a win the last time he played the Slovakians.
“It was a tight game the whole way,” he recalled. “[Slovakia] is a team that works really hard and has a lot of talent, so we need to be mindful of that. We want to improve ourselves, both individually and as a team.”
WATCH | Canada rides balanced attack to another win in Finland:
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Kent Johnson scores a goal as a result of a beautiful 3-way pass, to put Canada up 4-1 on their way to a 6-1 victory over Italy in pool play.
American Hughes caps comeback win
Luke Hughes scored with 1:57 left in overtime to complete a United States comeback from two goals down to edge Austria 3-2.
Benjamin Nissner scored in the first period and Paul Huber added another early in the second to give Austria a 2-0 lead in the Group B game in Tampere. Kieffer Bellows started the comeback later in the second before Adam Gaudette tied it with a power-play goal in the final period to force overtime.
The U.S. outshot Austria 39-16 on the way to its second win in two games.
In other Group A action, France beat Kazakhstan 2-1 with Denmark facing Switzerland later on Sunday.
Norway prevailed in a penalty shootout to defeat Britain 4-3 in Group B.
Captain Mathis Olimb scored two second-period goals to help build a 3-0 lead for Norway. Britain fought back with three goals in a span of 3:18 in the final period to force overtime.
Later on Sunday, Sweden will play the Czech Republic in the same group.
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