Canada Still Flawless At World Hockey Championships

Canada will improve to 4-0 at the World Hockey Championships after a 3-2 win over France on Thursday.

At 5:19 on the power play, Canada found themselves in the lead for the first time in the game. Ryan O'Reilly would make it 1-0 after taking a pass from Nathan Mackinnon along the goal line and skating towards the net. Uncontested, O'Reilly one-timed the shot to give Canada the advantage early.

But it wouldn't last. Nine minutes in, Olivier Dame-Malka one-timed a hard shot off of a Anthony Rech pass after Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the puck away at the French blue line, resulting in the home nation finding the back of the net on the ensuing rush.

To the delight of the sold-out crowd in Paris, France took the 2-1 lead to put Canada behind for the first time in the entire tournament. At 1:37 on the power play, Stephane Da Costa made a tremendous pass to Damien Fleury, who capitalized on the chance to beat Chad Johnson and make it 2-1 for France.

Canada was looking for a late goal in the second to give them so momentum and they managed to do just that. At 39:11, Claude Giroux made it 2-2 after taking a pass from newcomer Chris Lee, firing a fast wrist shot past Hardy and in to make the third period even more interesting.

After a slow start to the tournament, Marc-Edouard Vlasic was bound to make some sort of offensive impact at some point. At 42:22, the San Jose Sharks star bounced the puck off of the end boards from the point and it managed to bounce off a defender and in, giving Canada the 3-2 lead. It was the first ever goal for Vlasic in international competition, a career that has seen the defenceman win Olympic and World Cup championships. It turned out to be the game-winning goal for Canada, who would hold on long enough to take the 3-2 win over France.

Canada will hope to keep their perfect record intact even further when they face Switzerland on Saturday. France will have a quick turnaround with an afternoon meeting with Belarus tomorrow, with quarter-final hopes still on the line.

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