2014 Olympic Winter Games (Men)

CARTER’S THREE GOALS HELP CANADA STAY UNBEATEN WITH WIN OVER AUSTRIA

DAVID BRIEN

SOCHI, Russia – Jeff Carter (London, Ont./Los Angeles, NHL) scored a natural hat trick to lead the way as Canada’s Men’s Olympic Team kept its perfect record intact at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games with a 6-0 win over Austria on Friday night.

The other half of the Canadian goals came from the sticks of Ryan Getzlaf (Regina, Sask./Anaheim, NHL) and defensemen Shea Weber (Sicamous, B.C./Nashville, NHL) and Drew Doughty (London, Ont./Los Angeles, NHL). Patrick Marleau (Aneroid, Sask./San Jose, NHL) chipped in with three assists, while Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, Man./Chicago, NHL) had two of his own.

Making his first international appearance since the Olympic gold medal game in 2010, goaltender Roberto Luongo (Montreal, Que./Vancouver, NHL) stopped all 23 shots he faced for the shutout.

Doughty and Weber picked up where they left off in Canada’s tournament-opening 3-1 win over Norway on Thursday, both scoring their second goals in as many games to give the Canadians a 2-0 lead after one.

Doughty’s low wrist shot found its way through traffic and past Austrian netminder Bernhard Starkbaum off a face-off win by Toews just 5:24 in, and Weber hammered home a slap shot off a drop pass from Corey Perry (Peterborough, Ont./Anaheim, NHL) less than five minutes later to double the lead.

The second period was all Carter; he needed just under 12 minutes to score three times, becoming the first Canadian since Paul Knox in 1956 – ironically, also against Austria – to record a hat trick in a single period.

Carter stepped out of the penalty box and took a pass from Sidney Crosby (Cole Harbour, N.S./Pittsburgh, NHL) and beat Starkbaum at 2:39, converted a wraparound at 4:09 and found a loose puck at the top of the Austrian crease at 14:33, making it 5-0 Canada.

Getzlaf’s unassisted, shorthanded effort pushed the lead to 6-0 after 40 minutes and capped the game’s scoring; the 2010 gold medallist toe-dragged around an Austrian defender before flipping a backhand past Starkbaum.

Starkbaum gave way to Mathias Lange for the third period.

Canada outshot Austria in all three periods, and finished with a 46-23 advantage overall.

The Canadians have Saturday off and will be back on the ice Sunday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT to take on Finland in the final game of the preliminary round in Group B.