PRAGUE – Dylan Cozens scored two goals and had an assist to rally Canada past Switzerland 3-2 for its sixth win from six games at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.
Canada leads Group A with 17 points, two more than the Czech Republic in second with Switzerland another point back in third. The three teams had already clinched a spot in the playoff round.
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Cozens has scored six goals at the tournament and is tied atop the scoring table with American Brady Tkachuk and Finland’s Oliver Kapanen.
Nick Paul also scored for Canada and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 20 saves including a penalty shot in the second period when the score was 2-2.
Cozens found the roof of the net on a power play 1:42 into the game to give Canada an early lead.
Switzerland answered with two goals.
Kevin Fiala wristed an equalizer past Binnington in the opening frame on a power play.
Romain Loeffel put the Swiss 2-1 up in the middle period with a slap shot from the blue line.
Cozens tied it again at 2-2 from the top of the left circle on a power play.
Paul scored the winner for Canada on a power play, completing a series of passes by scoring into an open goal midway through the second.
Canada will complete the preliminary round on Tuesday against the Czech Republic, when Switzerland will face Finland.
In Group B, Latvia prevailed over Slovakia 3-2 in a penalty shootout. The result sent the United States to the next round.
Tkachuk scored three power play goals and added an assist to help the United States rout Kazakhstan 10-1.
Its fourth victory lifted the Americans to second place in Group B with 13 points, one ahead of Germany and Slovakia with a game against Latvia, which has nine points, on Tuesday to play in the preliminary round.
Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and four assists to become the United States record scorer with 43 points, one more than Patrick Kane.
Matt Boldy scored twice and had four assists, Brock Nelson and Luke Kunin both had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Brindley and Kevin Hayes also scored.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 13 saves.
In a four-goal opening period, Tkatchuk tipped in a shot by Zach Werenski on a power play to increase the U.S. lead to 2-0, and buried a rebound to make it 4-0 on a power play.
He completed his hat trick to increase the advantage to 8-0 with a one-timed shot from the right circle on another power play in the final period.
Alikhan Omirbekov scored the consolation goal for Kazakhstan when his team was 9-0 down.
In Group A, Austria beat Norway 4-1 and is tied for fourth place with Finland.
The top four from each group advance to the playoff round.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports