Four goals and two assists from captain Mason McTavish propelled Canada to a dominant 11-1 victory over Slovakia at the world junior hockey championship on Thursday.
Brennan Othman and Joshua Roy scored and contributed a pair of helpers for Canada (2-0-0), while Connor Bedard, Will Kuyle, Logan Stankoven and Olen Zellweger each added one. Zak Ostapchuk also signed.
Matej Kaslik scored the lone goal for Slovakia (0-0-2) midway through the second period.
Making his first start in the tournament, Canadian Dylan Garrand recorded 22 saves. Tomas Bolo stopped 33 of 44 shots for Slovakia.
The Canadians cruised to a decisive 5-2 victory over Latvia on Wednesday, while Slovakia dropped a 5-4 decision to the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Canada will continue round robin play against the Czech Republic (1-0-1) on Saturday.
With just seconds left on the game clock, Ostapchuk picked up a loose puck at the side of the net and slid it around the front, past Bolo to seal the score at 11-1.
Roy gave Canada a 10-1 lead with less than five minutes left on the game clock.
William Dufour’s shot hit Bolo’s pad and Roy picked up the ricochet at the top of the crease, firing it over the goalie as it fell to the ice.
McTavish hardly celebrated after giving Canada a 9-1 cushion 3:44 into the third period.
He found space between Bolo and the post for his fourth goal of the night, a strike that tied the Canadian record for most goals in a single game at the World Juniors.
Other players to have achieved the feat include Mario Lemieux (1984), Brayden Schenn (2011) and Maxime Comtois (2019).
McTavish completed his hat trick with 35 seconds left in the middle frame.
Bedard took a puck in the neutral zone and sent a puck up the ice to give his teammates a two-man break. Roy made a clean pass in the lane to McTavish and the 19-year-old Anaheim Ducks prospect fired past Bolo to give the Canadians an 8-1 lead.
About a dozen hats floated out onto the ice.
It was McTavish’s backhand shot from the top of the crease 15:16 into the second that gave Canada a 7-1 cushion.
Just 36 seconds earlier, Slovakia had finally defeated Garand after a low-level battle.
Caslik received the puck and fired a shot that hit the goalie’s box and the crossbar on its way to the net.
A three-man breakaway set up McTavish’s first goal of the night 6:25 into the second. Donovan Sebrango fed him a lead pass and, holding the puck, the Team Canada captain stepped in, sending a rocket flying past Bolo’s stick to extend the lead to 6-0.
The second period was just over a minute in when Stankoven scored Canada’s fifth goal of the night at five on three.
Kent Johnson sent a shot to Bolo’s pad and Stankoven, stationed at the side of the net, scored before the keeper could get back into position.
Canada was 1-for-4 on the power play and Slovakia went 0-for-3.
After a slow start in a 5-2 win over Latvia on Wednesday, Canada was a force in the first period on Thursday.
The hosts took a 4-0 advantage into the first intermission after Zellweger scored with 43 seconds left in the first frame.
The defenseman got a shot off the bars and the puck appeared to deflect off another player in front of the net before bouncing off the post.
Slovakia challenged the play for offside, but video review showed that Zellweger’s goal was good.
A diving clearance attempt by Slovakia set up Canada’s third strike of the night.
Bolo tried to send the puck deep into his own end, but Kuile picked it up at the blue line and sent it to Othman in the faceoff circle. The New York Rangers prospect had a shot past the goalie 15:57 into the game.
Kuyle gave Canada a 2-0 lead less than three minutes earlier.
Ridley Greig came out of the box and played a pass up the boards to Kuyle, who got in alone on a breakaway and fired a quick shot through Bolo’s pads.
Slovakia managed to break away early in the first, but Garrand read the play perfectly and the shot bounced off his pads to keep Canada ahead 1-0.
For the second straight game, Bedard opened the scoring for the Canadians.
The 17-year-old Regina Pats center tossed the puck to McTavish, who put it back through the slot. Bedard capped the handoff by ripping a great shot past Bolo from the bottom of the faceoff circle 6:16 into the first period.
Thursday’s early game saw Finland (2-0-0) battle the Czech Republic (1-0-1) to a 4-3 shootout victory.
“During the game we got better and better. And that’s the most important thing,” said Finland head coach Antti Pennanen.
The Czech Republic and Canada will be off on Friday before facing each other on Saturday.
The Czechs know they will have to improve their game for the match, forward Jiri Kulic said.
“We just want to keep our game,” he said. “It’s a big challenge, of course, and a big game. So we’re just going to do our best.”
Switzerland (0-1-0) was scheduled to battle the defending champion Americans (1-0-0) in the final game of the day on Thursday.
Friday will see Austria (0-1-0) vs. Sweden (1-0-0) and Slovakia vs. Latvia (0-2-0).
NOTES: McTavish leads the tournament in scoring with eight points (four goals, four assists). … The preliminary round continues through Monday, with the quarterfinals set for Wednesday. The semifinals are scheduled for August 19, and the medal games will be played on August 20. … The 2022 tournament will be held in August after the original iteration was canceled on Dec. 29 after just four days due to rising cases of COVID-19 among players and officials forcing games to be forfeited.
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