Trevor Moore scores a pair as U.S. dumps Canada 5-1 at world hockey championship

RIGA, Latvia — Trevor Moore scored twice in the second period to lead the United States to a 5-1 victory over Canada at the world hockey championship.

Jason Robertson, Adam Clendening and Matt Tennyson also tallied for the Americans, who have split their first two games in the preliminary round. Maxime Comtois had the lone goal for Canada, which is tied with Italy for last place in Group B after its second straight defeat. 

“I really liked our play in the first period, but our second period was pretty tough,” said Canadian head coach Gerard Gallant. “We came out and played the style of hockey we want to play. We had a really strong forecheck and got some good scoring opportunities early on. We need to make sure we manage the puck better because (they) scored two or three goals from the point with screens in front of our net.

“We need to take those shots away by getting in the shooting lanes and trying to block shots, but we also have to do a better job of letting our goalies see the puck.”

Canada opened the tournament with a 2-0 loss to host Latvia. Comtois’ goal at 11:35 of the third period Sunday ended Canada’s long scoring drought.

“We talked about getting that first goal in the room, and after we scored we were able to play a little more loose,” Comtois said. “We know we are going to get chances and the goals will come, but it was definitely a relief to get that first one. 

“We still have a lot of work to do, and we have to show up tomorrow and hopefully we can get some more goals.”

Canada will play Germany on Monday at the Riga Arena. 

In other games Sunday, Switzerland blanked Denmark 1-0 and Kazakhstan edged Finland 2-1 in a shootout. Belarus shut out Sweden 1-0, Slovakia defeated Great Britain 2-1 and Norway topped Italy 4-1. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2021. 

The Canadian Press