(WGR Sports Radio 550) – Dylan Cozens had another banner day for Team Canada on Sunday at the World Championship in Czechia, scoring two goals and an assist, all on the power play, to keep Canada undefeated with a 3-2 win over previously unbeaten Switzerland.
Cozens has goals in five-consecutive games, and is leading the tournament with six goals overall. JJ Peterka is fourth, scoring five goals for Germany. Both Cozens and Peterka are tied for eighth in overall scoring with eight points each.
In 23 games played for Canada in assorted tournaments, Cozens has scored 19 goals.
It only took 1:42 for Cozens to give Canada the lead, as he converted a John Tavares (Toronto Maple Leafs) rebound.
Kevin Fiala (Los Angeles Kings) scored a power play goal to tie it for Switzerland before the period ended.
Leading 2-1 in the second period, Fiala took a major penalty for a knee-on-knee hit on Cozens, and got kicked out of the game. Canada scored two goals on that power play, and Cozens was in on both of them.
Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary Flames), who had three assists, found Cozens in the left circle and he beat goalie Leonardo Genoni over his glove on the far side to tie it at 2-2.
Cozens then went cross-ice to Mangiapane, who saw Nick Paul (Tampa Bay Lightning) on top of the crease, and all he did was direct the puck past Genoni.
Before the power play was over, Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) pulled down his man on a shorthanded breakaway, and Switzerland could pick anybody to take the penalty shot. However, Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Blues) stopped former NHLer Sven Andrighetto, who has 216 games of experience with the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens.
With defenseman Bo Byram suspended for this game, thanks to a major slashing penalty, Owen Power took a lot of his minutes and had a great game. Power was active, defended very well, and did a terrific job on the penalty kill.
Power played a team-leading 25:56, while Cozens had 17:09 of ice-time.
Switzerland went down to third place in Group A, and trails Canada by three points. The Canadians have one more game in this round, which comes Tuesday against the new second place team, Czechia.
Czechia is 5-0-1 in this tournament, and trail Canada by two points in the standings. The problem for Canada is Czechia held three roster spots open, and on their way to play in this game on Tuesday are David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), Pavel Zacha (Bruins) and Martin Necas (Carolina Hurricanes).
All three players were recently eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In Group B, Sweden is in first place at 5-0-0. The United States is two points back at 4-1-1, while Germany and Slovakia are three points behind.
