(Prague) Dylan Cozens scored twice and added an assist in Canada’s 3-2 victory over Switzerland on Sunday in a preliminary round match at the World Hockey Championship.
The defending champion Canadians improved to 6-0 in the tournament with an overtime victory. It was a first defeat for the Swiss.
This gain allowed Canada to take the lead in Group A with 17 points, two more than the Czech Republic. The two nations will face each other on Tuesday.
“The Czechs have had an incredible tournament so far and we are playing well too,” said Canadian Dawson Mercer, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) website. It will be decided in the last match of the preliminary round and I think it will be a very good match. »
Nick Paul scored Canada’s other goal, scoring in the second period to break a 2-2 tie. Andrew Mangiapane prepared three goals, one more than John Tavares. All of Canada’s goals came on the power play.
“We won battles, we made it difficult for them to get scoring chances around our net and obviously we capitalized when we had our chances,” Tavares said.
PHOTO EVA KORINKOVA, REUTERS
Dylan Cozens scored two goals and collected an assist in Canada’s victory.
“We had our chances,” declared New Jersey Devils Swiss forward Nico Hischier. It was a fun match, really intense. Yes, they scored one more goal, but we can take good things from it. »
Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots in the win, including a penalty shot when the score was 2-2 in the second.
Cozens opened the scoring at 1:42 of the first period before Kevin Fiala tied the game at 11:15. Romain Loeffel gave the Swiss the lead at 5:03 of the second period.
Fiala then received a major penalty for kneeing Cozens, being ejected from the match. Montreal Canadiens defender Kaiden Guhle came to his teammate’s defense, but was chased two minutes for a double check.
The subsequent power play opened the door for Canada, who scored two goals on the power play. Cozens tied the game at 8:26, then Paul scored the winning goal at 10:30.
“Obviously, we took advantage of these power plays,” said Mercer. [Les unités spéciales] are a big facet of hockey. »
Canada took two power plays from the Swiss in the first half of the third period and Switzerland returned the favor afterwards.
Switzerland pulled goalie Leonardo Genoni in favor of an extra attacker at 18:05, but failed to score the tying goal. Genoni stopped 20 shots.