Bo Horvat scored twice while Dylan Garand stopped 11 shots as Canada defeated Slovenia 4-0 on Saturday in its first game of the world hockey championship in Stockholm, Sweden.
Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists for Canada, which outshot Slovenia 44-11. Noah Dobson had the other goal.
WATCH | Bo Horvat leads Team Canada at the IIHF world championships:
Bo Horvat with 2 goals and Nathan MacKinnon with a goal and two assists, lead Canada in a 4-0 defeat of Slovenia, in pool play at the 2025 IIHF Hockey World Championships in Stockholm Sweden.
“We thought we could have scored a few more goals because we had a some really good opportunities that we missed on,” said Canadian coach Dean Evason. “We had some glorious scoring chances and we need to continue to get those opportunities and bury a few more (goals).
“Overall in the game, the guys conducted themselves well offensively and defensively. We have talked a lot about building chemistry quickly, and we may flip the lines tomorrow to get new guys playing with each other, but we really like the commitment of our group tonight.”
Canada takes on Latvia on Sunday.
“(The Slovenians) defended really hard and their goalie made some great saves,” said Canadian captain Sidney Crosby. “We had some good looks at the net, and we will look to keep getting better with a quick turnaround for (Sunday’s) game.
“It is not too often that you get opportunities to play in these tournaments, represent Canada and be a part of a group like this, so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Crosby is serving as Canada’s captain 10 years after his last world hockey championship appearance when he captained the Canadian squad to gold. Forward Macklin Celebrini played on Crosby’s line Saturday and heaped lavish praise upon the veteran performer.
“It is awesome (to play on a line with Crosby),” he said. “A lot of us grew up idolizing him because he is the best player in the world, and getting the chance to play with him is special because he makes the game look so easy.”
Sweden downs Austria
Last year’s bronze medallist Sweden had to rally late to top Austria 4-2 in Stockholm.
Mika Zibanejad scored twice and Jonas Brodin and Alexander Wennberg had a goal each for the Swedes.
Trailing 2-1, they came back late in the final period.
Sweden pulled goalie Samuel Ersson for an extra attacker 2:55 before the final whistle and Brodin tied it at 2-2 with a slap shot from the blue line with 2:19 remaining.
Zibanejad netted the winner from the slot 12 seconds later for his second. Wennberg added one more into an empty net.
After losing to Finland 2-1 on Friday, Austria produced another decent performance against a title favourite.
Zibanejad tied it at 1-1 after Benjamin Baumgarten put the Austrians up in the middle period but Marco Kasper restored a one-goal advantage for Austria 2:26 into the final period.
Switzerland tops Denmark
Last year’s runner up Switzerland rebounded from a 5-4 overtime defeat to the Czech Republic by beating host Denmark 5-2 in the Danish city of Herning.
Captain Nico Hischier and Tyler Moy netted twice and added an assist each, and Damien Riat also had one goal for the Swiss.
Denmark got goals from Oscar Moelgaard and Joachim Blichfeld in their second straight defeat.
Earlier in Herning, Germany routed another newcomer Hungary 6-1 in Group B after Kazakhstan beat Norway 2-1.
Also in Stockholm, Latvia beat France 4-1 in their opening game.
