The Canadian National Junior Team entered Wednesday's game against Norway with 10 forwards, six defensemen and a new goalie between the pipes.

For at least one period, it made no difference.
 
Casey Cizikas and white-hot Brayden Schenn scored goals in the opening 4:50 of the period and goalie Mark Visentin turned aside 15 shots when Team Canada opened a 6-1 lead over winless Norway. In a bizarre twist, Norway outshot Canada, 16-15, in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Schenn, who scored 5 points on Tuesday to spark Canada to a 7-2 victory over Czech Republic, had 2 goals and one assist, while Marcus Foligno, Louis Leblanc, Erik Gudbranson and Louis Leblanc each had a goal and one assist.
 
Canada captain Ryan Ellis notched an assist on Gudbranson's blast from the right point at 10:45 -- giving him his 21st point in 15 World Junior Championship contests. That ties him for the all-time lead among defensemen in the tournament with Reijo Ruotsalainen (21 points in 24 games).
 
Norway had pulled within 4-1 when Rasmus Juell connected at 13:35 -- eight seconds after Leblanc had extended the lead for Canada.

An opening-game loss to the U.S. National Junior Team certainly hasn't kept Finland down.

In fact, for at least one night, the Finns are in sole possession of first place in Group A after having quietly strung together two straight triumphs, including Wednesday's 5-1 victory over Germany. Finland, which has played one more game than the U.S. (2-0-0, 5 points), is virtually assured a second-place finish following preliminary-round action in Group A of the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship.

The U.S. scored a 3-2 overtime victory over Finland on Sunday.

Finland, which is 2-0-1 with 6 points through three games, will play Slovakia on Friday before the start of the medal round on Sunday. The U.S., which is scheduled to play Germany (0-2-1) on Thursday, will close out its preliminary-round schedule on Friday against Switzerland (NHLN-US, 8:00 p.m. ET).

Finland received goals from  Joonas Nattinen, Miikka Salomaki, Joonas Donskoi and Jesse Virtanen before Germany finally connected -- a spectacular right-handed dangle 3:28 into the third by 2011 draft eligible prospect Tobias Rieder. Nattinen, who now has a team-leading 3 goals in three tournament games, and Donskoi are both prospects of the Florida Panthers.

"We're getting to know each other a little better every day," Finland captain Sami Vatanen said. "We never played much together before the tournament, but it's starting to come together. We want to win a medal; it's been a long time."

Donskoi's goal at 13:47 of the second was followed by a goal just 1:32 later by Virtanen's tally, forcing Germany to replace starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer (24 saves, 28 shots) for Niklas Treutle (15 saves, 16 shots) for the second time in three games.

Calgary Flames prospect Joni Ortio turned aside 28 shots in making his third straight start in goal for Finland. Minnesota Wild prospect Eric Haula closed out the scoring for Finland 16:07 into the third.

Finland outshot the Germans, 44-29. Detroit Red Wings' future star Teemu Pulkkinen (2 assists), who has 4 points in the tournament, and Haula led the way with six shots apiece. Julius Junttila also chipped in with two assists.

International Ice Hockey Federation tournament disciplinarian Dan Marouelli has levied an extra one-game suspension on Team Canada forward Zack Kassian for his second-period hit on Czech Republic defenseman Petr Senkerik on Tuesday.

Kassian will miss Wednesday's game against Norway and, now, Friday's big matchup with unbeaten Sweden. He was ejected from his team's 7-2 victory at the 5:53 mark of the second when his shoulder connected with the chest and neck of Senkerik. He was assessed a match penalty, which brought with it an automatic one-game suspension.

Marouelli announced this morning that he had doubled the punishment.

Senkerik was removed from the ice via a stretcher and, following numerous tests, returned to his hotel late Tuesday night. He was held out of the team's practice Wednesday.

The U.S. National Junior Team has a 6-1 lead on Slovakia through two periods in preliminary-round action of the World Junior Championship at HSBC Arena.
 
Kyle Palmieri scored a pair of goals in the first period when the U.S. held a 22-1 advantage in shots on the Slovaks, who were coming off an inspiring 2-1 overtime decision against Germany on Monday. In that victory, Slovakia goalie Dominik Riecicky made 47 saves. Against the United States, however, Riecicky was pulled in the second period in favor of Juraj Holly after yielding six goals on 42 shots.
 
Charlie Coyle and Chris Brown scored goals in the early stages of the second period before Slovakia finally connected on Tomas Jurco's goal. The U.S. quickly re-established its dominance, though, scoring twice more in a span of 3:25 to take a five-goal advantage into the third period.
 
The U.S. holds a 43-11 advantage in shots. Goalie Jack Campbell, who made 32 saves in a 3-2 overtime victory against Finland on Sunday, has 10 saves.

After spotting the Czech Republic an early lead, Team Canada settled down to connect for two power-play goals in the later stages of the opening period to grab a 2-1 lead into the first intermission at HSBC Arena.

Brayden Schenn scored off a shot from the left circle that beat Czech Republic goalie Filip Novotny between the legs at 14:43 before Jaden Schwartz fired home an attempt, from low in the left circle, that entered the long side at 16:40. Team Canada outshot the Czech Republic, 14-2, in the first.

Schenn also assisted Schwartz' power-play goal and defenseman Ryan Ellis chipped in with 2 assists.

Antonin Honejsek had given the Czech Republic a 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the period when he picked up a loose puck and snapped a shot from the left circle that clipped the long-side catching glove of Olivier Roy, into the cage. It marked the second time in two games the Canadians yielded the opening goal of the game. Team Canada defeated Russia, 6-3, on Sunday.

Joonas Nattinen, Jaakko Turtiainen, Teemu Pulkkinen and Julius Junttila had goals and Joni Ortio made 15 saves as Finland earned its first win of the 2011 World Junior Championship with a 4-0 victory against Switzerland on Tuesday at HSBC Arena.
 
Nattinen, a 2009 third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, connected in the first period as Finland held a 17-5 advantage in shots. Nattinen, who has 2 goals in two games, was named Finland's Player of the Game. Switzerland goalie Benjamin Conz, who was the top goalie of the 2010 WJC, finished with 34 saves and was named Swiss Player of the Game.
 
Turtiainen struck 4:37 into the second to extend the lead to 2-0. Pulkkinen, a 2010 fourth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, and then Junttila connected in a span of 3:14 in the third to close the scoring.
 
Finland, which played extremely well in a 3-2 overtime loss to the U.S. on Sunday, continued its strong, aggressive approach in every zone against Switzerland. Switzerland was coming off a 4-3 victory against Germany -- a game they led 4-0 before allowing Germany back into the game. 
 
Finland goalie Joni Ortio, a 2009 fifth-round pick of the Calgary Flames, needed to make just 15 saves to record his first WJC shutout. Ortio started for Finland at last year's tournament.

Sweden's Gabriel Landeskog, projected to be an early first-round pick in the 2011 Entry Draft, will miss his team's first big test of the World Junior Championship, Tuesday's game against Russia.
 

Gabriel Landeskog, Team Sweden

According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, Landeskog is dealing with an ankle injury that occurred in his last Ontario Hockey League game with the Kitchener Rangers. He's scheduled to undergo an MRI. McKenzie reported that Landeskog could miss the rest of the tournament with the ailment.
 
Landeskog had 1 goal, 1 assist and a plus-3 rating in a 7-1 victory against Norway in Sweden's tournament opener Sunday.
 
Landeskog has 25 goals and 45 points for the Rangers, where he is team captain. NHL Central Scouting had Landeskog rated No. 1 in its preliminary rankings for OHL players. He's just the second European-born and -trained player to captain an OHL team, following Slovakia's Tomas Marcinko (Islanders, fourth round, 2006), who captained the Barrie Colts in 2007-08.
 
Prior to being named Kitchener's Rookie of the Year and becoming a member of the OHL's All-Rookie First Team in 2009-10 after totaling 24 goals and 46 points in 61 games, he was the youngest player to suite up for Djurgarden in the Swedish Elite League, at 16 years, 90 days.

After dealing with a pretty adverse situation in their World Junior Championship opener against Finland -- needing an overtime goal to earn the victory -- the U.S. National Junior Team will now be forced to operate two men short for the foreseeable future.

U.S. coach Keith Allain confirmed on Tuesday following his team's practice at HSBC Arena that forward Jeremy Morin and Brock Nelson would be sidelined for the game against Slovakia tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

Both players, who have missed the last two practices, are reportedly sidelined with upper-body injuries and are listed day-to-day. There is no timetable for their return.

"We'll just have to play with the guys we have and push onward," Allain said. "Slovakia has great speed and tremendous one-on-one skill. From what we've seen, they've been pretty aggressive in the neutral zone and they have gotten good goaltending. We're still building our team game."

The U.S. will certainly have their hands full with Slovakian goalie Dominik Riecicky, who made 47 saves in a 2-1 overtime victory over Germany on Monday night.

"I didn't come to watch and didn't see too much of (Riecicky) but we'll throw a lot of pucks on net and see what happens," U.S. defenseman Justin Faulk said. "We have our systems and we'll just have to make sure we compete every game."

If a hot goalie is the equalizer, the U.S. National Junior Team better have paid strict attention to Slovakia's Dominik Riecicky.

Riecicky was an absolute one-man machine in the Slovakia net Monday, turning aside 47 shots on the way to leading his country to a 2-1 overtime victory against Germany in preliminary-round action in Group A at HSBC Arena. It would be surprising if Slovakia coach Stefan Mikes didn't have Riecicky right back between the pipes against Team USA on Tuesday (8 p.m.  ET, NHLN-US).

Riecicky, of course, wants that opportunity.

"I'd like to play against U.S. and for me it's high motivation because the championship is on their own soil," Riecicky said. "I'd love to see what happens."

Riecicky made 16 saves in the first, 17 in the second and 13 in the third. Marek Hrivik, who is eligible for the 2011 Entry Draft, deflected home a picturesque feed from Slovakia captain Richard Panik in the slot 3:39 into overtime to give Slovakia the decision.

"The first two periods were very tough for us, they had 34 shots and we had 17," Riecicky said. "But I thought in the third we were a better team and we had the momentum."

Panik, a Tampa Bay Lightning prospect, had a goal and an assist in the first game of his third World Junior Championship. Germany had pulled into a 1-1 tie 16:46 into the second when Norman Hauner jammed in a rebound in the crease.

Slovakia forward Tomas Jurco, a possible first-round pick in the June draft, was elated his country came away victorious and feels anything is possible against the U.S.

"It was a pretty hard game and we're really happy," Jurco said. "We're happy we stayed focused to the end, and it's a really big win for us. Our goalie was awesome. He had a few great saves and he's the goalie, so he's very good for us.

"If he plays against the U.S. like he did tonight, I'd say it's going to be a really hard game for USA because we can also play good defensively."

Meanwhile, at Dwyer Arena on the campus of Niagara University, Tampa Bay prospect Tomas Rachunek and Antonin Honejsek of the Western Hockey League's Moose Jaw Warriors had goals to lead the Czech Republic to a 2-0 victory against Norway in Group B action.

Marek Mazanec turned aside all 21 shots he faced for the Czechs. Norway's Steffen Soberg made 36 saves in defeat.

Germany next will face Finland on Wednesday at HSBC Arena, while the Czech Republic will play Canada on Tuesday (4 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, TSN), also at HSBC. Norway next plays Wednesday, against Canada (7:30 p.m. ET, NHLN-US, TSN).

In case you missed it, NHL.com spoke to Czech Republic assistant coach Jiri Fischer about the future of Czech hockey on an international stage.

The only two games on the docket for Monday in the World Junior Championship are under way.

Germany is facing Slovakia at HSBC Arena and Czech Republic and Norway are meeting in Dwyer Arena.

The Slovaks lead the Germans, 1-0, on a second-period goal by captain Richard Panik, drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round in 2009. The Czechs and Norway are scoreless after one period.

Starters for Slovakia
Forwards
Jaray Majdan-Tomas Jurco-Andrej Kudrna
Oliver Jokel-Andrej Stastny-Michael Vandas
Marek Hrivik-Richard Panik-Miroslav Preisinger
Dominik Simcak-Dalibor Bortnak-Tomas Matousek-Peter Sisovsky
Defense
Adam Janosik-Martin Marincin
Lukas Kozak-Peter Trska
Peter Hrasko-Henrich Jabornik
Peter Ceresnak
Goalie - Dominik Riecicky

Starters for Germany
Forwards
Tom Kuhnhackl-Tobias Rieder-Laurin Braun
Norman Hauner-Thomas Brandl-Marcel Ohmann
Marcel Noebels-Mirko Hofflin-Bernhard Keil
Marc El-Sayed-Matthias Plachta-Marius Mochel
Defense
Konrad Abeltshauser-Jannik Woidtke
Dominik Bittner-Corey Mapes
Peter Lindlbauer-Benjamin Hufner
Dieter Orendorz
Goalie - Philipp Grubauer

Starters for Czech Republic
Forwards
Andrej Nestrasil-Roman Horak-Robin Soudek
Michal Hlinka-David Tuma-Jakub Orsava
Martin Frk-Jakub Culek-Petr Holik
Tomas Rachunek-Ondrej Palat-Antonin Honejsek-Petr Straka
Defense
Dalibor Reznicek-Jakub Jerabek
Petr Senkerik-Adam Sedlak
Oldrich Horak-Martin Planek
Goalie - Marek Mazanec

Starters for Norway
Forwards
Andreas Stene-Jonas Oppoyen-Mats Rosseli Olsen
Rasmus Juell-Sondre Olden-Joacim Sundelius
Magnus Lindahl-Michael Haga-Hans Kristian Hollstedt
Petter Roste Fossen-Eirik Borresen-Nicholas Weberg-Simen Brekke
Defense
Nicolai Bryhnisveen-Tobias Skaarberg
Daniel Rokseth-Robin Andersen
Kenneth Madso-Adrian Danielsen
Jens Ulrik Bacher
Goalie - Steffen Soberg