Canada sails past Russia to open world juniors with 5-3 win
TORONTO — One year ago to the day Team Canada lost the opener of the world junior hockey championship, an omen perhaps to the worst showing for the country in almost 20 years.
The Canadians got it right to start the tournament this year, sailing past the Russians 5-3 in their preliminary-round opener on Monday night. Canada scored three power-play goals, including a pair by captain Dylan Strome, and outshot their long-time international rivals 37-17.
“It’s a good start for us,” said Strome, one of five returning players from the 2016 squad. “I think we were really ready to play and we were really prepared for Russia and we’ll be prepared for Slovakia (Tuesday) night.”
Shut out of the medal hunt in three of the past four world junior tournaments, this was the kind of mostly emphatic start the Canadians needed. Canada dropped their opener to the Americans last December in Finland — losing 4-2 — and eventually finished sixth, the worst result for the country since an eighth-place outcome in 1998.