PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Connor Bedard scored twice again and added an assist as Canada eased past Denmark 5-1 for its second straight victory at the ice hockey world championship.
Dylan Cozens, Dawson Mercer and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for Canada, whose goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 19 shots in the Group A game in Prague.
Center John Tavares recorded an assist as he joined the team for the first time after the Toronto Maple Leafs was eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup.
Bedard also scored two in Canada´s 4-2 win over Britain in their tournament´s opening game, AP reported.
Despite giving up the game’s opening goal, Canada’s men’s national hockey team responded with three goals in the second period to take control. Canada controlled the pace and possession, outshooting the Brits 34-13 across 60 minutes.
For Team Canada, this game was especially noteworthy because of the national team debut of Connor Bedard, one of hockey’s brightest young stars who just finished his first NHL season.
Bedard netted two goals in the second period to put Canada firmly in control.
“It’s nice to score, but it’s not something I’m thinking about right now,” Bedard said. “This is our first game and we’ve got a lot of areas to improve.”
Brandon Hagel and Michael Bunting also added a goal. Canada goaltender Joel Hofer only had to make 13 saves in the win.
The 18-year-old Bedard opened the scoring 2:24 with a shot from the blue line that went through traffic in front of the goal.
Cozens doubled the advantage in the opening period by wristing the shot into the roof of the net on a power play.
Bedar added his second early in the final period with a one-timer from close range.
Mercer added the fourth for Canada into an empty net as Denmark pulled goaltender Frederik Dichow with two minutes left and Dubois completed the win on a power play.
Christian Wejse had reduced the lead to 2-1 on a rebound in the middle period.
Last year´s bronze medalist Latvia prevailed 3-2 over France in overtime in Group B in Ostrava.
Earlier, Finland shut out newcomer Great Britain 8-0 for its first victory.
Oliver Kapanen scored a hat trick and Mikael Granlund had four assists for the Finns who recovered from a 1-0 shootout loss to the host Czech Republic in the opening game.
Finland goaltender Emil Larmi made 14 saves for the shutout in Prague.
For the British, it was a second straight loss after a 4-2 defeat to Canada in its first game.
Slovakia also registered its first win, a 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan in Group B.
Taylor Wenczkowski scored at 11:44 of the third overtime to give Boston a 2-1 victory over Montreal on Saturday night in Game 2 of the Professional Women’s Hockey League semi-final series.
Boston also won 2-1 in overtime in Game 1 Thursday. Game 3 of the best-of-five series is on Tuesday night in Boston.
Aerin Frankel made 56 saves for Boston.
Amanda Pelly opened the scoring for Boston at 6:48 of the first period. Kristin O´Neill tied it on a power play at 1:58 of the second.
Montreal’s Marie-Philip Poulin appeared to score with 30 seconds left in regulation, but her goal came after a whistle halted play.
Montreal defender Erin Ambrose played 61:33. Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 50 shots for Montreal.
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