Tyler Myers scored the game-winning goal just over four minutes into the third period and Canada concluded the men’s hockey world championship preliminary round with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic on Tuesday.
Peyton Krebs and Lawson Crouse, in an empty net, also hit the target for Canada. Scott Laughton added two assists to his record, while Montreal Canadiens goaltender Samuel Montembeault picked up the win after making 17 saves.
“We haven’t been able to score consistently since the start of the tournament, but we had a big goal from Myers,” Krebs said in a statement. We have to keep playing like we did in the first half. »
Martin Kaut ensured the response of the Czechs. Their goalkeeper, Karel Vejmelka, was riddled with 41 shots.
Canada finished second in Group B with 15 points (four wins in regulation, one in overtime, one loss in overtime and another in regulation), two ahead of third-placed Czech Republic. He also ended a two-game losing streak, against Switzerland and Norway, in that order.
“The last two games haven’t gone the way we wanted, so today we wanted to play with intensity and be effective defensively. I’m happy with our team’s progress,” said Canada’s head coach André Tourigny.
Switzerland, who will play their last game of the preliminary phase later today against hosts Latvia, were already guaranteed to finish top of the group by virtue of a collection of 18 points (six wins in time). regulations).
Canada will face the other host country of the event, Finland, in the quarter-finals. The Finns, defending champions of the tournament, were already guaranteed to finish third in Group A ahead of Tuesday’s games. They will face Denmark at the end of the day.
“Finland plays with really high intensity and doesn’t give their opponents a lot of space, so we’ll have to work really hard for every inch on the ice. It will be fun to play the Finns at home because we know the arena will be loud,” said Myers.
In other matches on Tuesday, the United States beat Sweden 4-3, Slovakia muzzled Norway 4-1 and Germany thrashed France 5-0.