Team Canada is one of only three teams remaining at the IIHF World Championship that have not lose a game.
Team Canada just keeps on cruising at the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland.
On Thursday, Canada edged Norway in overtime, 6-5, on the back of a Mark Scheifele hat trick, while they defeated Slovenia, 3-1, on Friday. Pittsburgh Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby had just one point between the two games - a secondary assist on a first-period Dylan Cozens goal against Slovenia, while defenseman Parker Wotherspoon also registered one assist, which came on Scheifele's second goal against Norway.
The assists give Crosby his sixth point of the tournament and Wotherspoon his second, while Canada improved to 5-0 in preliminary round play.
Thursday's game didn't start off well for the Canadians, as Norway's Eskild Bakke Olsen and Johannes Johannesen scored the game's first two goals in the first period. Then, with six and a half to go in the opening frame, Scheifele scored his first goal - an unassisted tally - and registered his second four minutes later to take a 2-2 tie into first intermission.
Norway retook the lead early in the second period via a power play goal from Noah Steen, but Canada responded just past the midway point of the period with a power play goal of their own from Gabriel Vilardi, assisted by Scheifele and Evan Bouchard, to again ensure a tie heading into second intermission.
Just before time wound down in the middle frame, Canada took a penalty for too many players, but Cozens was able to finish a shorthanded opportunity 30 seconds into the third to give Canada its first lead of the game. However, Norway responded with back-to-back goals by Steen and Tinus Luc Koblar within two minutes later in the period to flip the lead to 5-4 in favor of Norway.
Ryan O'Reilly tied the game late in regulation before Scheifele scored just 29 seconds into overtime to hand Canada the 6-5 win.
The Slovenia game was much different for the Canadians, as they scored three consecutive goals to open the game's scoring. Denton Mateychuk scored past the midway point of the first for the 1-0 lead, and Cozens's goal came with less than seven minutes to go in the second period to put Canada up, 2-0.
Emmitt Finnie scored six and a half minutes into the third period to put Canada on top, 3-0, and Rozle Bohinc scored the lone goal for Slovenia with a minute and five seconds left in regulation.
Next up for Team Canada is Slovakia on Sunday, followed by Czechia on Tuesday to close out preliminary round play. Canada, Switzerland, and Finland remain the only teams in the tournament that haven't lost a game.
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