HERNING, Denmark : The United States came out on top of an ill-tempered affair and beat holders Czech Republic 5-2 at the men’s World Championships on Tuesday to finish second in Group B, while Canada topped their group after a 5-3 win over co-hosts Sweden.
The U.S., who have failed to win a stand-alone world championship since 1933, will face Finland in Thursday’s quarter-finals.
Josh Doan put the U.S. ahead midway through an opening period in which the Americans had three power plays and the Czechs four, but neither side took advantage.
David Pastrnak’s goal in the opening minute of the second period drew the Czechs level and Martin Necas scored on a power play to put them ahead despite the U.S. outshooting the Czechs 38 to 16 in the first two periods.
The U.S. roared back with four unanswered goals in the final period, with Frank Nazar netting twice and Logan Cooley and Andrew Peeke also scoring.
The Czechs were looking to win the group but ended up third, level on points with the U.S., and meet Sweden next. Switzerland, runners-up last year, took top spot after a 4-1 win over Kazakhstan and will take on Austria.
Austria had no option but to win against Latvia, and they did so in style, racking up a shock 6-1 victory to reach the playoff round for the first time since 1994.
“It’s huge,” Austria’s Vinzenz Rohrer, who scored two goals, said.
“It’s not guaranteed for us, so when we get here it’s a special thing. We take pride in this.”
Canada, 28-times champions, bounced back from Monday’s loss to Finland, and proved too strong for the Swedes who had the backing of a partisan crowd at the Avicii Arena in Stockholm.
Travis Sanheim put Canada ahead after 18 seconds before Elias Lindholm levelled when the Canadians had the power play advantage, but the Swedes were 3-1 down by the end of the first period.
With Canada 5-2 up, Sweden went for broke in the final minutes, pulling their goaltender, but could only cut the deficit by one.
Canada finished one point ahead of Sweden in Group A and now meet the other co-hosts Denmark who took fourth spot in Group B after a 2-1 shootout win over Germany. Finland, third in Group A, ended the preliminary round with a 2-1 win over Slovakia.
