TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — The United States maintained a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Wednesday for a fourth straight victory in the group stage.
Lane Hutson and Nick Perbix contributed a goal and an assist each while Rocco Grimaldi and Carter Mazur also scored for the Americans, who moved four points clear atop Group A. Denmark is second with a game in hand, while Austria stayed on one point in seventh.
Nick Bonino skated around the goal to feed the unmarked Grimaldi, who opened the scoring with a shot high into the net 7:16 minutes into the middle period at Nokia Arena.
Captain Thomas Raffl equalized for the Austrians 10 minutes later but Mazur restored the U.S.’ lead after just 57 seconds, netting from the slot.
Hutson doubled the advantage on a solo effort in the final period and Perbix finished it off into an empty net.
In the Latvian capital of Riga, Canada eased past Kazakhstan 5-1 for its fourth straight win to move to the top of Group B with 11 points, two more than Switzerland in second.
Lawson Crowse scored twice, Joe Veleno and Samuel Blais had a goal and two assists each and MacKenzie Weegar and Joe Veleno added a goal and an assist apiece for Canada.
Weegar set the pace with a goal 19 seconds into game as Canada netted four in the opening period.
Adil Beketayev scored the lone goal for Kazakhstan.
In Wednesday’s remaining games, Sakari Manninen and Marko Anttila netted for Finland and added an assist each in a 5-3 victory over France. It was the second victory for the defending champion, which is currently fourth in Group A.
Also, co-host Latvia edged Norway 2-1 for its second victory in Group B.
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