VICTORIA — Joel Farabee scored a first-period natural hat trick as the U.S. pummelled Kazakhstan 8-2 at the world junior hockey championship Friday.

Josh Norris, Tyler Madden, Ryan Poehling, Oliver Wahlstrom and Alexander Chmelevski rounded out the scoring for the U.S. (2-0), which is level with Sweden for first place in Group B with six points each.

Jason Robertson also had four assists for the Americans, who were without the services of Jack Hughes, the projected top pick in next year's NHL entry draft. The team said Hughes is day to day and was scratched for precautionary reasons.

Dmitri Mitenkov and Andrei Buyalski got Kazakhstan (0-2) on the board.

U.S. goalie Cayden Primeau made 11 saves in the victory. Kazakhstan's Vladislav Nurek and Demid Yeremeyev combined for 58 saves in the loss.

The Americans went 2 for 6 on the power play. The Kazakhs were scoreless in five chances with the man advantage.

The U.S. will face fellow Group-B powerhouse Sweden on Saturday. Kazakhstan is slated to taken on Slovakia on Sunday.