Canada beats Czechs, U.S. wins at hockey worlds

PRAGUE — Dylan Cozens scored a short-handed goal in overtime for Canada to edge the Czech Republic 4-3 and complete the preliminary round at the ice hockey world championship Tuesday with seven straight wins.

The Buffalo Sabres center scored his second of the game with 1:47 left with Pierre-Luc Dubois in the penalty box for holding. It was Cozens’ tournament-leading eighth goal.

Canada topped Group A and will face Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Switzerland beat Finland 3-1 to take second in Group A, bumping the Czechs into third and a quarterfinal against the United States.

Down 3-1 with less than five minutes in regulation, the Czech Republic forced overtime with two goals after twice pulling goaltender Lukas Dostal.

Ondrej Palat reduced Canada’s lead to 3-2 by deflecting a shot into the net on a power play with Dostal pulled for a two-man advantage.

Roman Cervenka tied the game with 1:49 left.

The game was scoreless through two periods. Cozens opened the scoring on a power play 1:01 into the third period from the top of the left circle.

Dominik Kubalik one-timed a shot from the right to tie it at 1-1 on a power play.

Dawson Mercer netted a backhand to put Canada ahead again and Brandon Hagel made it 3-1 on a breakaway before the Czechs pulled even.

The United States finished second in Group B after beating Latvia 6-3 in their final preliminary game highlighted by Cole Caufield‘s two goals and two assists.

Brady Tkatchuk, Matt Boldy and Zach Werenski had a goal and an assist each, and Joel Farabee also scored.

Latvia, last year’s bronze medalist, was eliminated.

Group B winner Sweden will meet Finland next. Joel Eriksson Ek scored two goals and Erik Karlsson had a goal and two assists in Sweden’s 6-1 rout of Slovakia to record seven wins from seven in regulation.

Earlier, Britain rallied past Austria 4-2 for its first win.

The victory came after six straight losses for Britain, which finished bottom in Group A with three points and had been already relegated after one year in the top division.

Austria needed to win the game in regulation to retain a chance of qualifying for the playoff round for the first time since 1994. Finland got a playoff spot instead.

Germany completed Group B with a 6-3 win over France and will meet play Switzerland in the quarterfinals.