WORLDS: Nurse has two assists, Ekholm scores for Sweden in Canada's 5-3 opening victory

FRIBOURG, SUI – Darnell Nurse had two assists, while Mattias Ekholm factored in for Team Sweden with a goal on Friday afternoon as Team Canada opened their account in Group B at the 2026 IIHF World Championship with an opening 5-3 victory at BCF Arena.

Making his first appearance back at Worlds since 2019, Nurse helped give Canada the early lead with his first helper on John Tavares' opening marker 2:21 into the first period.

The defenceman jumped into an odd-man rush that came off a turnover by the Swedes in Canada's zone before taking a pass from Robert Thomas and finding John Tavares in the left circle with his follow-up feed that he converted inside the post for the 1-0 lead.

Canada held a two-goal advantage through 20 minutes before Sweden battled back to make it 3-3 in the second, with Ekholm scoring on a quick point shot that went in off the post past netminder Jet Greaves only 77 seconds after former Oilers forward Dylan Holloway gave Canada back the lead at 3-2 with over five minutes left in the frame.

Another former Oiler, winger Connor Brown broke the tie with the eventual winner on another odd-man rush for Canada less than four minutes into the final frame.

Nurse recorded another assist on Dylan Cozens' insurance marker with 7:01 left in regulation, capping off the scoring as the defenceman finished as one of three players for Canada with two points in the victory alongside Porter Martone and Fraser Minten.

Evan Bouchard didn't pick up a point in his Worlds debut – his first international appearance since the 2019 World Juniors – but led all Canadian defencemen with a team-high 23:21 of ice time and +1 plus/minus.

Over in Group A action at Zurich's Swiss Life Arena, forward Josh Samanski & Team Germany were defeated 3-1 by a veteran Team Finland side that had Aleksander Barkov making his first competitive appearance after missing the entire 2025-26 NHL campaign with the Florida Panthers.

Former Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi had a goal and an assist, including the decisive tally 3:04 into the third period. Samanski finished even over 12:15 of ice time.

Isaac Howard made his Worlds debut with the United States in the late game and led the team with three shots over 14:18 of ice time in a 3-1 defeat to Switzerland.