Nick Paul scored two goals and collected an assist as Canada defeated Slovakia 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the men’s world hockey championship on Thursday.

Jared McCann, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Dylan Guenther and Brandon Tanev also scored for the defending champions of the tournament. Jordan Binnington made 18 saves in front of the Canadian goal.

“It was really important for us to get off to a good start. The pressure in the quarter-finals is always high, and it is a special pressure because a loss means the end of the course. Our start to the game eased that pressure a little, and they [les buts de McCann et Dubois] were two important goals. They [Les Slovaques] We fought back, but we kept our pace,” said Canadian team head coach André Tourigny.

“The atmosphere within the team is quite good, but we still have two games to go and we know that the semi-finals will be difficult. We want to make sure that we play [pour la médaille d’or] “, he added.

Peter Cehlárik, Miloš Kelemen and Marek Hrivík struck back for Slovakia, who made the end of the game interesting with two late goals, but Paul sealed the outcome of the game by converting the score into an empty net.

Samuel Hlavaj was heavily used in front of the Slovakian goal, making 37 saves.

“From the beginning, the boys won their battles and we were able to get the puck into the opponent’s territory and put pressure on him [la Slovaquie]Paul noted. We generated a lot of shots and tried to take control quickly because we knew [les Slovaques] form a good team. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but I thought we put in a great performance for 60 minutes. »

In addition, Switzerland defeated Germany 3-1 in another quarter-final match on Thursday. In the other two quarter-finals, the USA will face the Czech Republic and Sweden will face Finland.

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