RIGA, Latvia — Jack Quinn scored the winning goal in the eighth round of a shootout as Canada overcame a toothless power play to defeat Slovakia 2-1 Monday at the world hockey championship.
Canada goaltender Sam Montembeault clinched the win by stopping Martin Chromiak on Slovakia's final shootout attempt.
“It is a little bit nerve-racking, and shootouts are not usually the best part of my game," Montembeault said. "It's a one-on-one situation and you never know what could happen, but I know I needed to do my part.
"We got a big goal (from Quinn) and I just needed to make the last save."
Jake Neighbours scored in regulation for Canada just after a slashing penalty to Slovakia's Richard Panik expired.
Canada leads Group A with eight points (two regulation wins, one overtime win) in three games.
Peter Cehlarik scored for Slovakia with Milan Lucic in the penalty box for holding.
Canada was 0-for-8 on the power play, including two 5-and-3 opportunities and a five-minute major to Libor Hudacek for boarding.
"We need to do some fine-tuning on the power play because we were forcing plays today, but I thought our five-on-five play was solid," Canada head coach André Tourigny said.
"We did not give (Slovakia) much to work with aside from a few minor breakdowns, and I like the way our game is progressing."
Slovakia, which is fourth in the group with four points (one win, one loss, one overtime loss), was 1-for-9 with the man advantage.
Montembeault made 23 saves for Canada in regulation and overtime.
Samuel Hlavaj made 42 stops for Slovakia.
Canada returns to action Wednesday against Kazakhstan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2023.
The Canadian Press
