WORLDS: Bouchard records three assists, sets up Canada's OT winner in 6-5 thriller over Norway

FRIBOURG, SUI – A 'Bouch-hard-earned' victory for the Red & White in Switzerland.

Evan Bouchard notched three assists, including the helper on Mark Scheifele's hat-trick winner 29 seconds into overtime, while Darnell Nurse also had an assist for Canada on Thursday at BCF Arena in a wild 6-5 victory over Norway at the 2026 IIHF World Championship.

The Red & White trailed 2-0, 3-2 and 5-4 during regulation and needed a late equalizer from Ryan O'Reilly with 1:39 left in the third period that was assisted by Bouchard to get the game to overtime, where the Oilers defenceman found Scheifele at the back door to complete his hat-trick and the 6-5 victory less than half a minute into sudden death.

Bouchard led Canada with 26:55 total ice time – over five minutes more than the next closest teammate in Sidney Crosby at 20:24 – thanks to five power-play opportunities against Norway that saw the 26-year-old pick up an assist on Gabe Vilardi's tally that tied it up at 3-3 with under 12 minutes gone in the middle frame.

Nurse factored in with an assist on Dylan Cozen's shorthanded marker halfway through the third period before the Norwegians scored twice in a 1:48 span to retake the lead.

Bouchard garnered his second helper on O'Reilly's late equalizer and ultimately set up the overtime winner with a terrific heads-up play to find space to accept the pass from Celebrini before sliding it to Scheifele for the easy tap-in and his hat-trick marker.

Bouchard now has a goal and three assists and is tied for the highest plus/minus at the Worlds with teammate Parker Wotherspoon at +8 through four games, while Nurse has now contributed four assists.

The win keeps Canada atop the Group B standings with a 3-1-0-0 record (11 points) heading into their penultimate match of the preliminary stage on Friday at BCF Arena against Slovenia.