Lindblom hat trick leads Sweden to first in Group B

Oskar Lindblom (Philadelphia Flyers) had a hat trick and William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs) had three assists as Sweden beat Switzerland 5-1 in a Group B a preliminary-round game of the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship on Wednesday at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings) and top 2015 NHL Draft prospect Jens Looke each had a goal. Goaltender Linus Soderstrom (New York Islanders) made 21 saves.

Four of Sweden's goals came on the power play.

"We have good chemistry," Nylander said of the team's potent power play, according to the IIHF website. "We played together at the [2014 IIHF World] U-18s and we're getting better and better still. It's a lot of fun."

Sweden finished the opening round 4-0 and in first place in Group B. They'll play the fourth-place finisher in Group A on Friday in the quarterfinals, either Finland or Germany depending on the outcome of their game later Wednesday.

Yannick Rathgeb scored for Switzerland. Goaltender Ludovic Waeber made 34 saves.

Switzerland has one win and two points in four preliminary-round games and is fourth in the Group. However they still can advance to the quarterfinals if the Czech Republic fails to beat Russia in regulation later Wednesday. A regulation-time win for the Czechs would push Switzerland into the relegation series against either Finland or Germany.

Rathgeb opened the scoring 3:29 into the game but 1:23 later Kempe, the 29th pick of the 2014 NHL Draft, scored a power-play goal to tie the game.

Lindblom scored three straight goals to blow open the game, with Nylander assisting on all of them. Lindblom and Nylander are tied for the tournament lead with seven points.

"That's always my goal, to be among the scoring leaders," Nylander said. "That's something that all top players want and something I strive for. If you're producing, you're probably playing well."

Lindblom's third goal and then Looke's goal came after Rathgeb was given a game-misconduct penalty for a hit to the head of Sweden's Anton Blidh (Boston Bruins).

Czech Republic 4, Russia 1: Patrik Zdrahal (2015 draft eligible) scored twice to help the Czechs reach the quarterfinals.

Pavel Zacha (2015 draft eligible) and Ondrej Kase (Anaheim Ducks) also scored for the Czech Republic (1-1-0-2), which would have fallen into relegation play with a loss.

Ivan Barbashev (St. Louis Blues) scored for Russia (1-1-0-2).

Finland 2, Germany 0: Ville Husso (St. Louis Blues) made 24 saves to send the defending champions to the quarterfnals, where they will play Sweden in a rematch of last year's championship game.

Julius Honka (Dallas Stars) and Mikko Rantanen scored for Finland (1-0-1-2), fourth in Group A.

Germany (0-0-0-4) will play Switzerland in a best-of-3 relegation series starting Tuesday in Toronto.