Hall's hat trick leads Canada to rout of Germany

Taylor Hall (Edmonton Oilers) had a hat trick, 14 Canadian players had at least one point and Group A leader Canada defeated Germany 10-0 on Sunday at the 2015 IIHF World Championship at 02 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic.

Forward Matt Duchene (Colorado Avalanche) had a goal and three assists for Canada. Martin Jones (Los Angeles Kings) made 17 saves for the shutout.

Captain Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) gave Canada a 1-0 lead 8:25 into the first period, triggering a four-goal outburst in a span of 11:47. Crosby's goal was followed by Hall's first and two goals from Cody Eakin (Dallas Stars).

"A lot of guys haven't played in a long time," Crosby told the IIHF website. "I've been fortunate enough to come from the playoffs. It's been a few weeks for some guys. Just to get them in the game was good."

Forwards Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers) and Tyler Ennis (Buffalo Sabres), and defenseman Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers) also scored for Canada.

After winning its first two games in group play by a combined score of 16-1, Canada (2-0-0-0, six points) plays the Czech Republic on Monday. Germany (1-0-0-1, three points) faces Switzerland on Tuesday.

Sweden 6, Austria 1: Forward Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators) had a hat trick and an assist to help Sweden win easily in a Group A game at 02 Arena.

Forsberg scored an unassisted goal 6:22 into the first period to give Sweden a 1-0 lead. That was followed by goals from defensemen Oscar Klefbom (Edmonton Oilers) and center Anton Lander (Oilers) for a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

"We had some pretty goals," forward Loui Eriksson (Boston Bruins), who had two assists, told the IIHF website. "When you give Filip time, he's good in those situations."

Forsberg completed his hat trick in the second period and center Elias Lindholm (Carolina Hurricanes) also scored to give Sweden a 6-0 lead through 40 minutes.

Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona Coyotes) had two assists, Lander had a goal and an assist, and goalie Anders Nilsson made 16 saves for Sweden. Nilsson lost his shutout bid when Dominique Heinrich scored with 6:43 remaining in regulation.

Sweden (1-1-0-0, five points) is second in Group A. Austria (0-1-0-1, two points) defeated Switzerland in a shootout Saturday.

Forsberg, who was third among NHL rookies with 63 points and tied for second with 26 goals, had seven of Sweden's 41 shots on goal.

"He's one of the best players in the tournament, and you can't give him the chances like we gave him today," said Austria forward Michael Raffl (Philadelphia Flyers).

Sweden continues group play Monday against Latvia; Austria next plays Tuesday against France.

Switzerland 3, France 1: Defenseman Roman Josi (Nashville Predators) scored the winning goal in the second period to give Switzerland a victory in a penalty-filled game at 02 Arena.

Josi's goal at 1:24 of the second period gave Switzerland (1-0-1-0, four points) a 2-0 lead. Damien Raux's unassisted goal at 8:31 of the third period got France (0-0-0-2, 0 points) within a goal, but Reto Suri hit the empty net with 54 seconds remaining to ice the victory.

"We didn't have the start we wanted last game against Austria (a shootout loss Saturday), so we felt this was a must-win game, and we're happy we won," Josi told the IIHF website. "We'll celebrate for 10 minutes and then put it behind us."

Former NHL goaltender Cristobal Huet made 32 saves for France, which took 63 of the 75 penalty minutes assessed in the game. Leonardo Genoni, Switzerland's backup goaltender, finished with 19 saves.

Switzerland plays Germany and France plays Austria on Tuesday.

Russia 5, Slovenia 3: Former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal, goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (Columbus Blue Jackets) made 22 saves and Russia remained undefeated in Group B with a victory at CEZ Arena in Ostrava.

Forward Anze Kopitar (Los Angeles Kings) scored for Slovenia, which lost to Belarus in its opening game Saturday.

Forward Evgenii Dadonov scored twice to help Russia to a 3-0 lead after the first period. Kopitar scored to make it 3-1, and Slovakia had three two-goal deficits during the game, but was never able to pull any closer.

"We did not play a very good game [Saturday against Belarus] but we played better today," Kopitar said. "Today's game was definitely not disappointing. We did some good stuff and have to build on that."

Russia (2-0-0-0, six points) faces Group B co-leader United States on Monday; Slovenia (0-0-0-2, 0 points) plays Slovakia on Tuesday.

Slovakia 2, Belarus 1 (OT): Defenseman Andrej Meszaros (Buffalo Sabres) scored two goals, including the game-winner in overtime, and Slovakia won its Group B game at CEZ Arena.

Forward Sergei Kostitsyn scored for Belarus and Marian Gaborik (Los Angeles Kings) was stopped on a penalty shot for Slovakia in the first period.

Goalie Jan Laco made 17 saves for Slovakia (0-2-0-0, four points), which has back-to-back overtime victories; Kevin Lalande made 32 saves for Belarus (1-0-1-0, four points).

Meszaros tied the game with 3:26 remaining in the third period, then won it by scoring 1:55 into overtime, a goal that was assisted by forwards Tomas Jurco (Detroit Red Wings) and Tomas Tatar (Red Wings).

"The first goal was a good play by our guys and I just saw a small spot and short for that," Meszaros said. "The second criss-crossed a few times and Tomas Tatar dropped the puck off for me. I went to the middle and shot, and saw the keeper was down and went high."

Finland 3, Denmark 0: Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) stopped all 16 shots he faced and Finland scored three times in the second period to defeat Denmark in a Group B game at CEZ Arena.

After being routed by the United States in its tournament opener, Finland outshot Demark 41-16. Goaltender Sebastian Dahm kept Denmark in the game with 38 saves.

After Dahm made 20 saves in a scoreless first period, forward Jussi Jokinen (Carolina Hurricanes) put Finland ahead at 7:47 of the second, and Janne Pesonen doubled the lead 71 seconds later by knocking in a rebound. Aleksander Barkov put Finland up by three when he scored on a deflection at 15:56.

Finland outshot Denmark 33-6 through two periods before Rinne had to stop 10 shots in the third period.

Finland (1-0-0-1, three points) faces Norway on Monday. Denmark (0-0-1-1, one point) plays its next game Tuesday against Belarus.