ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Finland took the top spot in the world hockey championship Group B Wednesday with a 3-0 win over Hungary, on a day which also saw two Slovakian players taken to hospital.

Even though Hungary has no NHL players and last won a top-level world championship game 78 years ago, it put up fierce resistance, with goaltender Adam Vay making 38 saves in the first two periods to restrict the Finns to a one-goal lead.

Finland's first goal came when Atte Ohtamaa beat Vay with a wrist shot near the end of the second. Hungary's defiance ebbed in the third as Mattu Koivu and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Finns.

Canada can retake the top spot from Finland if it beats Germany on Thursday.

Earlier, Slovakia lost one player to a broken leg and another to a chest injury in its team's 4-2 loss to Belarus.

Defenceman Michal Sersen was stretchered off in the third period when his left leg collapsed under him as he played the puck.

Coach Zdeno Ciger said Sersen had broken his leg, while forward Andrej Stastny was also hospitalized with an apparent injury to a chest muscle, which will end his tournament.

Slovakia had previously lost forward Tomas Hrnka with a shoulder injury in Tuesday's 5-1 loss to Germany.

"Yesterday we lost one forward, he already went home, and tonight we lost another two players," Ciger said. "It's very hard."

The injuries came a day after a Danish player, Jesper Jensen, suffered concussion and had to spend the night in hospital. Jensen is ruled out of the rest of the tournament.

The win over Slovakia was the first for Belarus at the championship following heavy losses to Finland, the U.S. and Canada.

Trailing 2-0 heading into the final period, Belarus got a goal and assist from Kirill Gotovets. Artur Gavrus, Andrei Stepanov and Charles Linglet also scored.

Belarus, which had allowed 20 goals in its first three games in Group B, is seventh, while Slovakia is third despite its second straight loss.

Gustav Nyquist scored a hat-trick as Sweden routed Kazakhstan 7-3 to go second in Group A behind the Czech Republic. Nyquist is the tournament's leading scorer with five from four games.

Alexander Wennberg also finished with one goal and three assists.

In Moscow, Switzerland earned its second win in two days, beating Latvia 5-4 despite wasting a 3-0 lead.

Nino Niederreiter finished with two goals for Switzerland, while Sven Andrighietto had a goal and two assists. Switzerland is third in Group A, with Latvia eighth and in danger of relegation.