Josh Anderson had the eventual game-winning goal and added an assist as Canada downed Italy 6-1 on Sunday at the men’s world hockey championship in Helsinki.
Noah Gregor had a short-handed goal for Canada (2-0), while Travis Sanheim, Nicolas Roy, Kent Johnson, and Dysin Mayo also scored.
“We are all doing what we do best on the ice, and we are helping the team create scoring chances,” said Anderson. “We also take a lot of pride in being dependable in the defensive zone, and we are a pretty confident line right now and we are only going to get better.”
Chris Driedger made 11 saves in Canada’s net for the win.
Phil Pietroniro opened the scoring for Italy (0-2) 12:57 into the game.
“We are progressing well, despite only being together for a week,” said Canada head coach Claude Julien. “I thought today was a good game. We had a bit of a slow start but in the second and third period we were able to find our rhythm.”
Goalie Justin Fazio stopped 24 shots for the Italians.
Anderson scored 8:15 into the second period to break a 1-1 tie as Canada reeled off five unanswered goals for the victory.
Neither team scored on the power play, with Canada going 0-for-1 and Italy 0-for-4.
The Canadians face Slovakia on Monday at 9:20 a.m. ET.
“[Slovakia] is a team that we have seen at the Olympics, and they won bronze there, so it is a team that we need to respect,” Julien said. “They are also coming off a loss [on Friday], so no doubt they will come out and play their best game against us. We need to be ready for that challenge.”
Canadian defenseman Thomas Chabot remembers his team scoring late to eke out a win the last time he played the Slovakians. “It was a tight game the whole way,” he recalled. “[Slovakia] is a team that works really hard and has a lot of talent, so we need to be mindful of that. We want to improve ourselves, both individually and as a team.”
