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Canada, Sweden start World Cup campaign with wins

Shane Doan of Canada takes a shot at Rastislav Stana of Slovakia during the second period of their game in the World Cup of Hockey at the Bell Center in Montreal, Canada. Canada defeated Slovakia 5-1. PHOTO: AFP

Ryan Smyth scored two goals to lead Canada to a 5-1 victory over Slovakia on Wednesday night in the World Cup of Hockey.

Canada, which beat the US 2-1 on Tuesday night, improved to 2-0 in the tournament and is now guaranteed a home game for the quarterfinals next Wednesday in Toronto.

Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning had a goal and an assist while Boston Bruins center Joe Thornton and Philadelphia Flyers forward Simon Gagne also scored for Canada.

Martin Cibak scored in the third period for injury-riddled Slovakia, playing its first World Cup.

Canada played without defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who will miss the rest of the tournament with a strained right knee. Defenseman Wade Redden also left the game early in the third period with an undisclosed injury.

The Slovaks, already missing Zigmund Palffy, Michal Handzus, Peter Bondra and Ivan Majesky to injuries, got another setback on Wednesday when Montreal Canadiens forward Richard Zednik was hospitalized with food poisoning.

Slovakia made a surprise decision to start Rastislav Stana in goal instead of usual No. 1 Jan Lasak and saw him beaten twice in the first five minutes.

Thornton stripped defenseman Zdeno Chara in front of the Slovak net and scored 3:02 into the game. Smyth added his first goal when he beat Stana at 4:43, and the rout was on.

Canada closes out round robin play tomorrow against Russia in Toronto. Slovakia plays the US tonight in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Sweden vs Germany

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin shone in Sweden's opening 5-2 win over Germany at the World Cup of Hockey on Tuesday, scoring once and providing two assists in a match with contrasting team tactics.

The Swedes played aggressively from the start while the Germans relied heavily on counter-attacks to keep pace with the Swedes in the first period.

Sweden fired off 15 shots in the opening period while Germany managed just three, but the Swedes had to wait until the 17th minute before scoring their opening goal when Tomas Holmstrom grabbed the return off a Marcus Naslund shot and put the puck past Washington Capitals keeper Olaf Kolzig (16:34).

Less than two minutes later Germany found the equalizer on a counter-attack following an error by Sweden defender Kim Johnsson close to the midline, San Jose Sharks' Marco Sturm firing a shot past keeper Tommy Salo (17:53).

Sweden regained the lead when Sundin fired a backhand shot into the German goal less than two minutes into the second half, assisted by Ottawa Senators' Daniel Alfredsson.

They took command of the match when Alfredsson once again provided the winning pass to Kim Johnsson who fired into an open German goal (27:26). A few minutes later Sundin assisted Marcus Nilson, who scored his first national team goal to make it 4-1.

Germany reduced to 4-2 when Daniel Kreutzer fired a shot from the blue line that seemed to go wide but keeper Tommy Salo tipped it into his own box (33:00).

But the Swedes proved too strong and Fredrik Modin, assisted by Johnsson and Sundin, made it 5-2 on a long shot that Kolzig was unable to see with several players in front of him (36:25).

Jovanovski out

Canadian defenseman Ed Jovanovski will miss the rest of the World Cup of Hockey with a cracked rib and sprained right knee.

Jovanovski was injured in Canada's 2-1 win over the US on Tuesday. An MRI exam revealed the sprained knee on Wednesday.

The Canucks defenseman was injured in the first period when he tumbled into the US net and American defenseman Eric Weinrich fell on top of him.

``It's devastating,'' Jovanovski said, declining further comment.

The loss is a big blow to Canada's already thin defense, which lost Chris Pronger and Rob Blake before the tournament began.

Scott Hannan of the San Jose Sharks replaced Jovanovski for Wednesday night's game against Slovakia.
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