Russia (5-0-0-0) beat Latvia (2-0-0-3) 3-1 at Ondrej Nepela Arena on Saturday to remain the only undefeated team at the tournament.
Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning) had a goal and assist in the victory for Russia and he is now second at the 2019 World Championship with 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in five games at the tournament.
Russian goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay) made 26 saves to earn his tournament-leading fourth game for his home country. Team Russia outshot Latvia 33-27 in the win.
"Of course a game like that feels a bit like a playoff game," Colorado's Russian defenseman Nikita Zadorov told IIHF.com after the contest. "Latvia has a good team, well-drilled, disciplined. They fought to the end. It was hard work and [Vasilevskiy] kept us in it at times. It could have gone the other way today."
Zadorov logged 8:29 in the victory and received 12 penalty minutes at the end of the second period for boarding.
Russia has 15 points to lead Group B and plays its sixth game of group play on Sunday against Switzerland (4-0-0-1).