Denmark’s stunning run at the World Championships continued on Friday as they routed the 2002 champions Slovakia 6-0 in their qualifying round Group E clash.
Peter Regin collected a goal and two assists, while goalie Patrick Galbraith chalked up a shutout to record Denmark’s second ever win over the Slovaks in seven head-to-head matches at the Worlds.
“We killed them right away,” Denmark captain Jesper Daamgard said. “We came out flying and it seemed like everything went in. They changed goalies, but we just kept coming at them. We were all over them and they could not get a shot on our net.”
PHOTO: AFP
The Danes got off to a flying start, taking a 1-0 lead just 1 minute, 5 seconds into the game through Regin. Defenseman Peter Larsen added his goal at 4 minutes, 20 seconds, when two Slovakian players were in the penalty box.
Another Denmark blueliner, Mads Christensen, scored just 20 seconds later, also on a power-play, forcing Slovakia’s coach to substitute goaltender Peter Budaj for Rastislav Stana.
Morten Madsen showed the change made little difference as he netted six minutes later, when the Slovaks were again shorthanded. Morten Green and Stefan Lassen added one apiece to give Denmark a commanding 6-0 advantage at the end of the first period.
Meanwhile, Olympic champions Canada battled back from a goal down to thrash Norway 12-1 in their Group F match in Mannheim.
Canada’s 19-year-old forward Jordan Eberle collected a goal and four assists, while John Tavares recorded a hat-trick to gain the lead in the goal scorers’ contest with six goals so far.
Norway jumped into an early lead through defender Jonas Holos, who opened the scoring 1 minute, 35 seconds into the match.
Canada replied by pinning their opponents back and Evander Kane pulled them level with 3 minutes, 51 seconds remaining before the first interval.
In the second period, Canada stepped up a gear to score seven goals. Corey Perry put Canada into the lead with his powerplay goal, while Marc Giordano, Tavares, Rich Peverley, Rich Downie and Ray Whitney added one apiece, while Kane netted his second of the game to make it 8-1 for Canada before the second intermission.
Eberle scored his goal 39 seconds into the third period, before Tavares added another pair of goals. Matt Duchene finalized the scoring.
Finland emerged 2-0 victors over Belarus in a tough encounter.
Jarkko Immonen put the Finns into the lead 7 minutes, 23 seconds into the second period on a power-play, sweeping the puck in from just outside the crease on Antti Mietinen’s pass.
Juha-Pekka Hytonen made it 2-0 for Finland five minutes later, firing into the net from Antti Pihlstrom’s cross-ice pass.
In the third, Belarus poured into attack, trying to take Pekka Rinne’s net by storm, but he stood tall and didn’t concede a goal.
In the late Group F match, Sweden outscored Latvia 4-2.
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