PRAGUE — Connor Bedard scored twice again and added an assist as Canada eased past Denmark 5-1 Sunday for its second straight victory at the ice hockey world championship.
Dylan Cozens, Dawson Mercer and Pierre-Luc Dubois also scored for Canada, whose goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 19 shots in the Group A game in Prague.
Center John Tavares recorded an assist as he joined the team for the first time after the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated by the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup.
Bedard also scored two in Canada’s 4-2 win over Britain on Saturday in their tournament’s opening game. The 18-year-old rookie for the Chicago Blackhawks opened the scoring 2:24 into Sunday’s game with a shot from the blue line that went through traffic in front of the goal.
Cozens doubled the advantage in the opening period by wristing the shot into the roof of the net on a power play.
Bedard added his second early in the final period with a one-timer from close range.
Mercer added the fourth for Canada into an empty net as Denmark pulled goaltender Frederik Dichow with two minutes left and Dubois completed the win on a power play.
Christian Wejse had reduced the lead to 2-1 on a rebound in the middle period.
Last year’s bronze medalist Latvia prevailed 3-2 over France in overtime in Group B in Ostrava.
Earlier, Finland shut out newcomer Great Britain 8-0 for its first victory. Oliver Kapanen scored a hat trick and Mikael Granlund had four assists for the Finns who recovered from a 1-0 shootout loss to the host Czech Republic in the opening game.
Finland goaltender Emil Larmi made 14 saves for the shutout in Prague.
For the British, it was a second straight loss after a 4-2 defeat to Canada in its first game.
Slovakia also registered its first win, a 6-2 victory over Kazakhstan in Group B.
Switzerland plays Austria in Group A and Sweden meets another newcomer, Poland, in Group B later Sunday. t
