Montembeault, Canada perfect on opening day of Worlds

MONTREAL - Joel Armia, Lane Hutson, Sean Farrell, Justin Barron and Sam Montembeault played their first games at the 2023 IIHF World Championship on Friday.

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The tournament is taking place in Tampere, Finland and Riga, Latvia.

Here's a recap of their respective performances:

FINLAND 1 - 4 USA

The United States scored four unanswered goals in the Group A opener.

Armia, who played 16:00 on Friday, was named Player of the Game for Team Finland in the loss.

Farrell and Hutson were held off the scoresheet for USA. The pair were on the ice for 11:12 and 15:12, respectively.

Hutson was denied his first point of the tournament on the Americans' opening goal that was called back for goaltender interference.

Canadiens' prospect Luke Tuch did not dress for the United States.

LATVIA 0 - 6 CANADA

In Group B action, Canada struck early, capitalizing twice in the opening five minutes of the contest to force a goalie change in the Latvian net.

At the other end of the ice, Montembeault was perfect for the Canadians, turning away all 23 shots he faced.

On the blue line, his Canadiens' teammate Barron skated 13:16 in his World Championship debut at Arena Riga.

Coming up

Frederik Dichow's Danes will face Hungary at Nokia Arena at 9:20 a.m. ET on Saturday.

Armia and the Finns will dress for a consecutive day when they meet Germany at 1:20 p.m.

Cover photo credit: Matt Zambonin/IIHF