Canada’s Lawson Crouse tallies twice in win over Kazakhstan at men’s hockey worlds | CBC Sports

Lawson Crouse scored twice as Canada remained unbeaten at the world hockey championship with a 5-1 win over Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Joe Veleno and Sammy Blais each had a goal and two assists for Canada (4-0, 11 points), while MacKenzie Weegar added a goal and an assist.

Adil Beketayev had Kazakhstan’s only goal.

Joel Hofer stopped 16 shots for Canada in his national team debut, while Nikita Boyarkin made 35 saves for Kazakhstan.

Weegar took the only penalty in the disciplined game when he was whistled for tripping in the second period.

WATCH | Crouse keys Canada win over Kazakhstan:

Pair of 1st period goals by Lawson Crouse keeps Canada perfect at the world championships

Lawson Crouse scored twice in the opening period as Canada defeated Kazakhstan 5-1 moving to a record of 4-0 at the world hockey championships in Riga, Latvia.

Canada, which has the next two days off, moved two points ahead of idle Switzerland for top spot in Group B. The two teams will meet Saturday.

Switzerland, which has yet to concede a goal at the tournament and has a full nine points from three regulation wins, returns to action Thursday against Slovakia.

U.S., Finland, Latvia also win

The United States maintained a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Wednesday for a fourth straight victory in the group stage.

Lane Hutson and Nick Perbix contributed a goal and an assist each while Rocco Grimaldi and Carter Mazur also scored for the Americans, who moved four points clear atop Group A. Denmark is second with a game in hand, while Austria stayed on one point in seventh.

Captain Thomas Raffl equalized for the Austrians 10 minutes later but Mazur restored the U.S.’ lead after just 57 seconds, netting from the slot.

Hutson doubled the advantage on a solo effort in the final period and Perbix finished it off into an empty net.

Meanwhile, in Wednesday’s remaining games, Sakari Manninen and Marko Anttila netted for Finland and added an assist each in a 5-3 victory over France. It was the second victory for the defending champion, which is currently fourth in Group A.

Also, co-host Latvia edged Norway 2-1 for its second victory in Group B.