IIHF World Championships roundup: Rampant Sweden cruise past France, Latvia crush Kazakhs
Group A
USA 3 Denmark 0
The USA continued their perfect form in Tampere with a steady 3-0 win over Denmark, but the Americans left it late to get their rewards.
Despite having two powerplays in the first period, the US were unable to take advantage before the Danes had the same problem in the third - at one stage playing five on three - with neither side able to break the deadlock until late on in this cagey contest.
It was a powerplay goal that sneaked the US, yet to lose in this tournament, into the lead. After Morten Poulsen was penalised for holding, teenager Cutter Gauthier struck with 10 minutes left to play.
Five minutes later, USA secured their fifth-straight win through Buffalo Sabres' Alex Tuch and moved to 15 points, all but securing their passage into the last eight, even having enough to time to add a third right before the final buzzer - Rocco Grimaldi scoring into an empty net to add a final gloss on the victory.
Check out the game summary with Flashscore.
Austria 1 Finland 3
Finland moved one step closer to the knockout rounds, seeing off Austria 3-1 , moving closer to USA at the top of Group A.
Kasperi Kapanen got his Finnish side off to the perfect start after just 79 seconds with the opener, but Austria levelled in the fifth minute as Dominic Zwerger netted.
In a breathless opening eight minutes, Finland edged back in front with the help of Antti Soumela.
The pace of the game could not continue and it slowed throughout the second period and it took until two minutes to go in the game for the Finnish to wrap it up as Ahti Oksanen put the gloss on a win for the Finns.
Check out the game summary with Flashscore.
Sweden 4 France 0
Sweden continued their red-hot form against a sorry France side with the Swedes cruising to a 4-0 victory.
The Swedes had scored 15 and conceded just two from their opening four games, and they started strong once again in Tampere with a goal in just the second minute of the encounter from Par Lindholm with an assist from Henrik Tommernes.
Their second also came courtesy of an assist from Tommernes as he set up Fabian Zetterlund to score their second midway through the first period.
The onslaught continued as seven minutes later - and with a powerplay - Tommernes was on hand once more, this time Jonatan Berggren getting on the scoresheet.
A perfect first period for Sweden got even better six seconds before its conclusion as Zetterlund got his second of the game to inflict more pain on France.
But, the bleeding stopped in the second and third period - perhaps down to a change in goaltender for the French - as Sweden took their foot off the pedal and saw the rest of the game out without much incident. Zetterlund was denied a hat-trick late on via a goal review, but that won't be too much of a problem for Sweden.
They now sit second in Group A with two games left to play.
Check out all the match stats with Flashscore.
Group B
Norway 0 Czech Republic 2
The Czech Republic moved to four normal-time wins from five games with a 2-0 victory over Norway in Riga.
The Czechs have yet to lose in the tournament and came into this clash full of confidence. That was not misplaced as Dominik Kubalik punished Norwegian ill-discipline to open the scoring during the second powerplay of the game.
They doubled their advantage six minutes later as Jakub Flek scored to end the first period on a high for the Czech Republic.
They had to hang on though through the second period - the most serious of all came eight minutes into it after Daniel Vozenilek was penalised for boarding. There were four attempts for Norway to score in powerplays in the middle 20 minutes, but they were unable to take advantage in what was a feisty affair at times.
The tense feel continued, but the Czech Republic eased their way to the win and will wait to see how Switzerland get on later in the day to see whether they will remain atop of Group B.
Check out the game summary with Flashscore.
Canada 2 Switzerland 3
Switzerland made it five wins from five in the IIHF World Championships with a comeback 3-2 victory over Canada.
After a goalless first period that had its fair share of penalties, Canada's Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring during a powerplay midway through the second period.
The lead lasted just four minutes as Switzerland levelled through Nico Hischier before Dario Simon put the Swiss ahead four minutes later.
Now with confidence high and momentum with them, Switzerland continued the onslaught in the final period as Andres Ambuhl gave them a two-goal cushion that they needed with Canada scoring adding a consolation goal before time through Michael Carcone, but it wasn't enough for the North Americans to remain unbeaten.
Check out all the match stats with Flashscore.
Kazakhstan 0 Latvia 7
Latvia pulled off their best performance to date in these World Championships to tear apart Kazakhstan, beating them 7-0 in Riga on Saturday night.
After narrowly beating Slovenia 3-2 on Friday night, the co-hosts Latvia were out for more against their Kazakh opponents, yet to win a game in normal time during the tournament.
Given their dominance, it was a surprise to see Latvia take until the 16th minute to open the scoring with Rihards Bukarts taking advantage of a powerplay to net for his nation.
The next did not take as long - just 90 seconds - as Oskars Batna scored just before the first interval.
The pressure did not relent after the break as Martins Dzierkals joined the party with the third goal of the game - the assists coming from the previous two goalscorers.
Midway through the second period, Latvia made it four through Rodrigo Abols and it was five six seconds before the second break - this time Miks Indrasis adding his name to the growing list of goalscorers in the game.
There was still time for the hosts to add two more late on with Kaspars Daugavins scoring before Abols added the final nail in Kazakhstan's coffin as well as his second of the game.