Belarus No Contest for Canada

Canada's tournament continues to stay perfect after winning gold last year, defeating Belarus by a score of 9-0 on Monday.

Belarus knew that their best chance to take the lead against Canada would require them to score often and early. They weren't able to score in the first 20 minutes, however, but they did keep Cam Talbot busy in the Canadian net. Many of their five shots in the first period came at the start, but they still found ways to keep the game scoreless for a while thanks to their ability to crush Canada's best scoring chances in close.

Canada would strike first. As ypically in international play, the weaker teams typically crumble under pressure when faced with a penalty. That was the case with about four minutes left when Matt Duchene battled hard in the corner to steal the puck. He then found Corey Perry behind the net, who fed Derick Brassard just in front of the creaes. Brassard would get stopped at first, but he knocked in the loose rebound to beat Canadian-born goaltender Kevin LaLande and give Canada the 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

Canada would take the 2-0 lead just a minute into the second period. Corey Perry would get his second point of the game, this time firing the shot through LaLande's five hole to double their lead. Then, three minutes later, Ryan O'Rielly would add another to the board, this time redirecting it off his foot. The officials reviewed the goal shortly after, but it was clear he did not kick the puck in or change his footing in any way to knock the puck in and was called a good goal.

The floodgates began before the second period was over. After 11 minutes of play, Brassard made a good effort in front of the net to create a lane for Matt Duchene. The Colorado Avalanche star was in a perfect spot to get a rebound off of an earlier shot, firing it into the empty cage for the 4-0 goal.

Under a minute later, Canada got another one to end Lalonde's night. This time, two Edmonton Oilers forwards connected on the goal, giving hope to the team that has been in a rebuild for longer than most teams. Connor McDavid would make a nice pass to Taylor Hall, who took a hard one-timer that Lalonde had no chance of saving, ending his night in favour of Belarus' third goalie, Dmitri Milchakov.

The weakest goal of all came in the third period. O'Rielly, who scored earlier in the second, took a pass from Matt Duchene before scoring from the corner, having the puck get deflected in front and in for the 6-0 goal. It was the first against Milchakov, one that he would surely love to have back.

Canada wasn't done. At 9:17 of the third, the Canadians made Belarus' defense look silly with some tremendous passing. Mark Stone started the play, sending a behind-the-back pass to Mark Scheifele. Scheifele then fed Stone back the pass, finishing off the tick-tac-toe play after redirecting the puck at the doorstep to make it 7-0. Michael Matheson then added an extra goal to the score sheet, using great patience before sending a snap shot into the back of the net.

Canada will get Tuesday and Wednesday off before meeting with Germany on Thursday afternoon. Belarus, however, will get just one day off before searching for their first win against Slovakia, who currently have six points thanks to a perfect record to start the tournament.

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