Panarin's hot form continues at World Championship

The 2017 IIHF World Championship rolled on this week, and Artemi Panarin kept his place atop the tournament leaderboard after tallying an assist in Russia's 3-0 victory against Denmark Thursday. The helper brings Panarin to 10 points through Russia's first four games. Nathan MacKinnon of Canada currently sits in second place with eight points. Russia will look to extend their lead atop Group A when they take on Slovakia next Monday.
Meanwhile, Team USA moved to 3-1 overall with a 3-0 defeat of Italy on Wednesday. Trevor van Riemsdyk was paired with Boston's Charlie McAvoy on defense and recorded one shot in 14:27 of ice time. Nick Schmaltz did not dress on Wednesday after leaving the Americans' previous game on Monday against Sweden. The U.S. will return to action this weekend, facing Latvia on Saturday and Slovakia on Sunday.

Michal Kempny and the Czech Republic picked up a shootout victory against Norway on Wednesday and a 5-1 blowout victory over Slovenia on Thursday. Kempny played 20:29 against Norway and scored a goal in the second period of the win over Slovenia. The Czechs will face Group B host France on Sunday.
Finally, Marcus Kruger saw action as Sweden picked up a pair of victories over Latvia and Italy to move into second place in Group A. Sweden will return to action against Denmark on Sunday.