IIHF World Championship roundup: Favourites fire as USA and Canada come back to win
The tournament sees 16 of the best hockey-playing nations battling it out on the ice for the chance to claim the top international prize of the year.
The competition begins with a group stage wherein two groups of eight nations play a single round-robin. The top four teams from each group then progress to the quarter-finals.
See the day's results below.
Group A
Sweden 5 Austria 0
Sweden recorded their second regular-time win of the tournament by beating Austria emphatically in Tampere on Sunday evening.
Par Lindholm opened the scoring early on before Marcus Sorensen and Patrik Nemeth added goals in the second period. Leo Carlsson added a fourth and Dennis Everberg a fifth late on.
See the full match stats here.
France 3 Denmark 4 (OT)
Earlier in Tampere, Denmark got themselves into a commanding 2-0 lead in the first period against France thanks to goals from Nikolaj Ehlers and Mikkel Boedker.
However, France came storming back in the second period with goals from Guillaume Leclerc, Anthony Rech and Justin Addamo. Denmark added one to their tally as well in the second via Nick Olesen to leave the match at 3-3 going into the second break.
Neither team could add a goal in the third and so it went to overtime. Patrick Russell scored the winner as Denmark claimed their second victory of the tournament.
USA 7 Hungary 1
In the day's first match of the group, Hungary stunned the USA by opening the scoring early on through Istvan Sofron but that proved to be the highlight for the Europeans as the US roared back with two goals in the first and second periods.
Alex Tuch's goal was followed by a Nick Bonino double before Cutter Gauthier made it 4-1 for the Americans.
Connor Mackey, Rocco Grimaldi and Tuch added goals in the final period as the US ran away with it.
Group B
Czech Republic 5 Kazakhstan 1
The Czech Republic charged into a first-period 2-0 lead over Kazakhstan in the late game in Riga on Sunday through goals from Jakub Zboril and Dominik Kubalik.
The Kazakhs pulled one back in the second when Maxim Mukhametov scored to make things interesting but goals from Lukas Sedlak, Jan Kostalek and Kubalik in the third period sealed the win for the Czechs.
See the full match stats here.
Norway 0 Switzerland 3
First-period goals from Dario Simion and Andrea Glauser handed Switzerland a 2-0 lead against Norway. Nino Niederreiter added a third for the Swiss late on.
The win means the Swiss have two regular-time wins from their opening two and sit atop the group standings with Canada.
See the full match stats here.
Slovenia 2 Canada 5
Earlier, Slovenia got off to a flying start against one of the tournament favourites Canada when Jan Drozg opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the opening minutes of the match.
The score stayed that way into the second period until the Canadians mounted their comeback. Michael Carcone, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Milan Lucic all scored to make it 3-1 at the second break.
Mackenzie Weegar and Jack McBain added two more for Canada before Drozg scored a consolation for Slovenia.
