Seguin, Canada stay perfect with win against France

Forward Jordan Eberle (Edmonton Oilers) scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to give Canada a 4-3 win against France on Saturday in a Group A preliminary-round game at the 2015 IIHF World Championship at 02 Arena in Prague.

Forward Tyler Seguin (Dallas Stars) scored twice and goalie Martin Jones (Los Angeles Kings) made 18 saves for Canada (5-0-0-0, 15 points); Ronan Quemener made 39 saves for France.

Seguin and Eberle scored 66 seconds apart in the first period to give Canada a 2-0 lead. Seguin scored a power-play goal halfway through the period that was assisted by forward Jason Spezza (Stars) and defenseman Tyson Barrie (Colorado Avalanche).

But France twice erased a two-goal deficit and tied the game at 3-3 in the third period on goals 35 seconds apart by forwards Yorick Treille and Damien Fleury. However, Eberle put Canada back in front at 9:18 with his second goal, 3:35 after France had tied it. The power-play goal was assisted by defenseman Brent Burns (San Jose Sharks) and center Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins).

"We know how to win games," Duchene said, according to the IIHF website. "There was no panic. We didn't believe for a second it wasn't going to end up a Canada win."

Seguin's two goals were scored on the power play; Canada went 3-for-6 with the man-advantage.

"It seems like every year there's a game where you're in a real fight to get the puck in the net," Eberle said. "You have to find a way to win, and today we did that with our power play."

Canada has clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and continues group play against Switzerland on Sunday. France (1-0-0-4, three points) faces Sweden on Monday.

Sweden 2, Switzerland 1 (OT): Filip Forsberg's power-play goal 3:49 into overtime gave Sweden a victory at 02 Arena.

Forsberg (Nashville Predators) whipped a loose puck into the net with Morris Trachsler of Switzerland in the penalty box for playing with a broken stick.

"I've never played alongside him before, but you can just tell he’s got a tremendous talent, the way he handles the puck," forward Oscar Moller of Sweden said of Forsberg, according to the IIHF website. "He's a big body, tremendous skater. He had a bit of a breakout season this year, and it's just the start of his career. Hopefully he'll keep delivering."

Sweden (3-2-0-1, 13 points) opened the scoring 7:17 into the game when Elias Lindholm took a pass from Carolina Hurricanes teammate Victor Rask and redirected it past goaltender Leonardo Genoni. Switzerland, which managed seven shots on goal through two periods, tied the game 34 seconds into the third when a point shot by defenseman Eric Blum hit the helmet of teammate Simon Bodenmann and floated past goaltender Jhonas Enroth (Dallas Stars). The goal was allowed after a video review.

Sweden completes group play against France on Monday. Switzerland (2-0-3-0, nine points), faces Canada on Sunday.

Latvia 2, Austria 1 (OT): Forward Kaspars Daugavins scored 33 seconds into overtime for Latvia at 02 Arena.

It was Daugavins' second OT winner of the tournament; he scored against Switzerland to give Latvia a 2-1 win.

Daugavins also assisted on Latvia's second-period goal by forward Laruis Darzins. Austria took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a goal by forward Brian Lebler.

Austria (0-1-1-3, three points) outshot Latvia 29-18, but Latvia goalie Edgars Masalskis made 28 saves.

"We dominated the whole game," Austria forward Michael Raffl (Philadelphia Flyers) said, according to the IIHF website. "We were the better team but we couldn't capitalize on our scoring chances. It's tough to win hockey games if you just score once."

Austria plays Germany on Monday. Latvia (0-2-0-4, four points) completes its preliminary-round play Tuesday against France.

Russia 7, Belarus 0: Seven forwards had two points and Russia moved into a three-way tie for the lead in Group B by routing Belarus at CEZ Arena in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Vladimir Tarasenko (St. Louis Blues), and former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk each had a goal and an assist. Forward Artem Anisimov (Columbus Blue Jackets) had two assists for Russia, which scored seven goals on 32 shots.

"It's not been easy as captain of this team because we haven't always played as well as we should," Kovalchuk said, according to the IIHF website. "One good game doesn't make a full season."

Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (Blue Jackets) made 25 saves, one on a penalty shot in the first period to keep Russia ahead 1-0.

"We won the game because we stuck our tasks and played as a team. Everyone did his job," defenseman Dmitry Kulikov (Florida Panthers) said. "To start with on defense we did everything we could to avoid giving up chances in our zone, and then the offense got rolling."

Russia (4-0-0-1, 12 points) is tied with Finland and the United States and plays Slovakia on Sunday. Belarus (3-0-1-1, 10 points) faces Finland on Monday.

Finland 3, Slovakia 0: Finland broke the modern-day tournament record for longest shutout streak when Juuse Saros made 22 saves against Slovakia at CEZ Arena.

Finland (4-0-0-1, 12 points) has shut out four consecutive opponents and hasn't allowed a goal since surrendering an empty-netter at 17:22 of the third period in its first game, a 5-1 loss to the United States on May 1. Finland has not allowed a goal in 242 minutes and 38 seconds, breaking the modern-day record for longest team shutout streak of 209:02, set in 1957 by Sweden.

Pekka Rinne (Nashville Predators) was in goal for the game against the U.S. and the first three shutouts, matching the individual record set in 2004 by Slovakia's Jan Lasak, who went 206:26 without allowing a goal. Rinne has not allowed a goal in 191:56, according to the IIHF.

Forwards Leo Komarov (Toronto Maple Leafs), Joonas Donskoi, and Juhamatti Aaltonen scored in the third period for Finland, which is tied for first place in Group B with Russia and the United States.

"We played really strong all through the game," Finland forward Jussi Jokinen (Florida Panthers) said, according to the IIHF website. "We were really patient with our game, we kept going and we were confident that if it took 65 minutes, 40 minutes, whatever we would get the reward."

Donskoi put Finland ahead when he scored 28 seconds into the third period. Aaltonen made it 2-0 at 15:33 and Komarov had an empty-net goal with seven seconds remaining.

Goalie Jan Laco made 28 saves and forward Marian Gaborik (Los Angeles Kings) had five shots on goal.

Finland plays Belarus on Monday. Slovakia (1-2-0-2, seven points) faces Russia on Sunday.

Denmark 4, Norway 1: Denmark got goals by Nicholas Jensen, Daniel Nielsen, Frederik Storm and Julian Jakobsen at CEZ Arena to earn its first victory of the tournament.

Nielsen's power-play goal at 19:36 of the first period broke a 1-1 tie. Storm scored on the power play 13:01 into the second period, and Jakobsen completed the scoring at 11:36 of the third.

Ken Andre Olimb scored 3:18 into the game for Norway, 87 seconds after Jensen's goal put Denmark ahead.

Sebastian Dahm made 24 saves for Denmark (1-0-1-4, four points), which plays Slovakia on Monday. Lars Haugen finished with 15 saves for Norway (2-0-0-4, six points), which completes group play against Belarus on Tuesday.