ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Ryan Ellis fought off fatigue and jet lag and made an immediate contribution to Canada's world title defence.

The Nashville Predators defenceman played a team-high 21 minutes 19 seconds as Canada downed France 4-0 Monday at the world hockey championship, setting up a winner-take-all matchup with Finland for first place in Group B.

Ellis joined Canada after the Predators were eliminated from the NHL playoffs on Thursday. He said it was tough to get thrown into world championship action after two seven-game NHL playoff series and an intercontinental flight.

"I don't think I even found my legs throughout the whole game," said Ellis. "It was a tough travel day yesterday but the guys played great. It's easy to play with a guy like (defence partner) Ryan Murray and with the rest of the guys on the ice. I just tried to do my part."

Calvin Pickard made 13 saves to pick up a shutout in his second start as Canada improved its record to 6-0, tied for first place in the group with the Finns at 18 points.

Canada and Finland, led by top draft prospect Patrik Laine, meet Tuesday in the final round-robin game for both teams. The winner will face the fourth-place team from Group A in the quarter-finals.

With the tournament's medal round starting Thursday, the Canadians used Monday night's game as a tuneup. That gave Ellis a chance to get used to his new team.

"He's a very smart player," said Murray. "He's obviously an offensive guy and we're really happy to have him."

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Ben Hutton was scratched for the first time in the tournament to make room for Ellis. Hutton was on the bench for Canada's 5-0 win over Slovakia on Saturday night but didn't play a shift.

Ellis picked up his first point of the tournament as time expired on a second-period power play, getting an assist when Matt Duchene slid a goalmouth rebound past French netminder Ronan Quemener to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

"Good to get him in the game and good to get the five years of NHL pro hockey experience on our back end," said head coach Bill Peters after the game. "We saw him at the hotel upon arrival, he looked quite tired. Today, no pre-game skate, then he hopped out there and played 20 minutes."

Mark Stone opened the scoring on a first-period power play with his third goal of the tournament, converting a nice give-and-go from Taylor Hall and Connor McDavid with a wrist shot from the slot. Mark Scheifele and Corey Perry added insurance goals in the third.

Ellis also gave the French team a penalty shot opportunity at the 1:33 mark of the second period when he slashed forward Jordann Perret on the wrist, but shooter Charles Bertrand failed to get the puck on the net.

"I just tried to stay patient," said Pickard, who was challenged on some point-blank opportunities despite facing a relatively small number of shots. "It was a big part of the game. It was 1-0 at the start of the second, so I wanted to stay patient. He kind of lost the puck there-it was a good result for sure."

"They were flying the zone a little bit," added Murray of the speedy French attack. "We were shooting from the back end and they kept their momentum going and kind of flew the zone. We've got to get our shots through all the way to the net or else their D is knocking them down and sending them off on breakaways. Our goalie was huge for us on those plays."

Quemener kept France in the game with 42 saves.

In other Group B action, the Germans, who have already clinched their first quarter-final berth in five years, clinched third place in the group with a 4-2 win over Hungary.

In Group A action in Moscow, the host Russians recorded their fifth straight victory with a 3-0 win over Norway to move into a tie with the Czech team for first place with 15 points. Denmark moved into fourth with a 4-1 win over Kazakhstan in Moscow