Duchene, Spezza lead Canada rout of Austria

Matt Duchene (Colorado Avalanche) and Jason Spezza (Dallas Stars) each had two goals and two assists to lead Canada to a 10-1 defeat of Austria on Tuesday in a Group A preliminary-round game at the 2015 IIHF World Championship at O2 Arena in Prague.

Jordan Eberle (Edmonton Oilers) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) each had a goal and an assist for Canada. Goaltender Mike Smith (Arizona Coyotes) made 14 saves.

Canada played without captain Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), who was given a day off. Defenseman Dan Hamhuis (Vancouver Canucks) was captain for the game.

Canada finished preliminary-round play first in Group A with a 7-0-0-0 record and will play Belarus, the fourth-place team in Group B, in a quarterfinal game Thursday.

Dominique Heinrich scored for Austria (0-2-1-4). Goalies Bernhard Starkbaum and Rene Swette combined to make 36 saves.

Austria's loss, combined with France's shootout win against Latvia, pushed Austria to eighth in Group A and a spot in the Division I level for the 2016 World Championship.

Duchene and Spezza are tied with Sweden's Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Arizona Coyotes) for the tournament scoring lead with 11 points.

"It's been all sorts of guys that have been scoring lots of goals and getting lots of points in this tournament," Duchene told the IIHF website. "Everybody's contributing pretty equally. That's a really good thing, the sign of a good team."

Canada led 4-0 after the first period on goals by Tyson Barrie (Colorado Avalanche), Duchene, Taylor Hall (Edmonton Oilers) and Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers). Ekblad's goal was his fourth of the tournament, most among defensemen. Spezza and Eberle scored in the second to push the lead to 6-0.

Heinrich scored 2:44 into the third, but nine seconds later MacKinnon scored to make it 7-1 and 12 seconds after that Spezza's second goal made it 8-1. Starkbaum was replaced by Swette, who allowed goals by Brayden Schenn (Philadelphia Flyers) and Duchene later in the period.

Czech Republic 2, Switzerland 1 (SO): Michal Vondrka scored the deciding goal for the Czech Republic in a shootout victory in a Group A preliminary-round game at O2 Arena.

Kevin Fiala scored at 16:56 of the first period for Switzerland, but Martin Zatovic tied the game 1-1 midway through the third period.

Switzerland goalie Reto Berra (Colorado Avalanche) made 27 saves. Ondrej Pavelec (Winnipeg Jets) made 26 saves for the Czech Republic.

Czech Republic, which finished in third place in Group A, will play Finland, the second-place finisher in Group B, in the quarterfinals Thursday.

Switzerland, which finished fourth place in Group A, will play the United States, which finished first in Group B, in the quarterfinals Thursday.

France 3, Latvia 2 (SO): Stephane Da Costa scored in regulation and in the shootout to help France to the win in a Group A preliminary-round game at O2 Arena.

Sacha Treille also scored for France (1-1-0-5), and goaltender Cristobal Huet made 11 saves in regulation and overtime, and one save in the shootout to preserve the victory.

Guntis Galvins and Kaspars Daugavins each had a goal and an assist for Latvia (0-2-1-4), and goaltender Edgars Masalskis made 32 saves.

France, Latvia and Austria finished with five points at the bottom of Group A, but France finishes sixth based on its 2-0 victory against Austria on May 5, while Latvia is seventh based on a better goal differential, minus-14 to Austria's minus-19.

Latvia led 2-0 after two periods but da Costa's goal 8:21 into the third made it 2-1, and then Treille scored with 4:40 remaining to tie the game.

In the shootout, Damien Fleury, Julien Desrosiers and da Costa scored for France. Lauris Darzins scored for Latvia, but Huet stopped Daugavins.