Canada in control through two periods against Austria at World Juniors
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It's been smooth sailing for Team Canada as they lead Austria 7-0 through the first two periods in their World Junior Championship matchup Thursday in Moncton.
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Canada has goals from seven different skaters, including Connor Bedard, the projected top pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
The Canadians managed no shots on net through the opening 12 minutes, but Dylan Guenther got the tournament hosts on the board with a power-play goal off a nifty between-the-legs feed from Brennan Othmann. Just under two minutes later, Zach Dean fired a shot from the high slot that got through Austria netminder Benedikt Oschgan to double Canada’s lead.
Shane Wright then scored Canada's third goal of the opening period and second on the power play to push Canada's lead to 3-0 after the first 20 minutes.
Canada picked up right where they left off in the second as Joshua Roy tucked one home to make it a four-goal lead. Less than a minute later, Bedard beat Oschgan with a picture-perfect wrist shot from an odd angle for his first of the night and maybe his best of the tournament thus far.
Bedard now has 13 total goals in his World Junior career and sits one back of Jordan Eberle’s Canadian record of 14. Eberle hit the mark in 12 games, while Bedard is currently playing in his 12th. Bedard also has two assists on the night to give him his second consecutive multi-point gamet.
Chicago Blackhawks prospect and defenceman Nolan Allen got his first goal of the tournament soon after and Logan Stankoven added another as Canada continued to build on the lead.
Ben Gaudreau got the start in net for Canada, his first action since being yanked and replaced by Thomas Milic in Canada’s first game of the tournament. He stopped all eight shots through the first 40 minutes Thursday.
Canada has nine first-round picks and three NHL players on their roster while Austria entered Thursday’s matchup having lost both its games by a combined 20 goals.
The Canadians sit third in Group A behind Sweden (eight points) and Czechia (seven). Canada dropped their opening-game of the tournament to the Czechs on Boxing Day, the first time they’ve lost their opener with the tournament on home soil.
They rebounded in a big way on Wednesday, steamrolling Germany 11-2 behind hat tricks from Bedard and Guenther. Bedard also had four assists, matching the Canadian single-game points record of seven also held by Dave Andreychuk (1983), Brenden Morrow (1999), Mike Cammalleri (2002) and Gabriel Bourque (2010).
Next up for Canada is Sweden on New Year’s Eve to conclude round-robin play. The top three teams in each group will advance to the medal round. Finland (seven points), USA (six) and Switzerland (four) are the current top three teams in Group B.