2018-19 National Men's Team

CANADA BLANKS BRITS FOR FIRST WIN AT WORLDS

QUINTON AMUNDSON

KOSICE, Slovakia – Anthony Mantha (Longueuil, Que./Detroit, NHL) had two goals and three assists to power Canada’s National Men’s Team to an 8-0 victory over Great Britain on Sunday at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.

Canadian captain Kyle Turris (New Westminster, B.C./Nashville, NHL) added two goals and an assist. Mathieu Joseph (Laval, Que./Tampa Bay, NHL), Dylan Strome (Mississauga, Ont./Chicago, NHL), Dante Fabbro (Coquitlam, B.C./Nashville, NHL) and Sean Couturier (Bathurst, N.B./Philadelphia, NHL) also scored for Canada, which also prevailed 8-0 the last time the nations met in 1994.

Carter Hart (Sherwood Park, Alta./Philadelphia, NHL) stopped 12 shots for the shutout.

Canada achieved its objective of storming out of the gate as it earned a massive 22-4 edge in shots to build a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.

Joseph gave Canada its first lead of the tournament at 2:43 by wiring in a rebound off an Adam Henrique (Burford, Ont./Anaheim, NHL) backhand from the slot, and Mantha doubled the lead at 12:33, one-touching a centering pass from Jared McCann (London, Ont./Pittsburgh, NHL).

Mantha demonstrated his playmaking prowess with a tape-to-tape pass from the left wing to set up a one-on-one rush that Turris took advantage of with a backhand deke to give Canada a 3-0 lead at 2:35 of the second period.

Strome scored a power-play goal to expand Canada’s advantage to four, putting home a loose puck in the crease just over seven minutes into the middle frame, and Fabbro capped the scoring in the stanza with a vintage slap shot from the high slot with 23 seconds to go before the intermission.

Canada kept its huge territorial edge intact as it outshot Great Britain 18-2 in the second period.

The Mantha-Turris connection struck again as Turris completed a give-and-go 57 seconds into the period before Couturier made it 7-0 with a chip shot in tight at 6:46.

Mantha capped his five-point game midway through the period by converting on a rebound.

Canada will next battle host Slovakia on Monday (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT).