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Host Latvia beats Canada 2-0 in world hockey opener

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Canada's Michael Bunting challenges for the puck with Latvia's Martins Karsums during the Ice Hockey World Championship group B match between Canada and Latvia at the Arena in Riga, Latvia, Friday, May 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

RIGA ā€“ Matiss Kivlenieks made 38 saves and host Latvia beat Canada 2-0 on Friday in their world hockey opener.

Miks Indrasis opened the scoring with 1.5 seconds left in the first period, beating goaltender Darcy Kuemper between the pads. Oskars Batna made it 2-0 on a tip-in midway through the second period.

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ā€œWe knew that Canada didnā€™t play a lot together so we wanted to take advantage,ā€ Indrasis said. ā€œI think we played well, scored a couple of goals, and it was enough to win the game.ā€

Latvia beat Canada for the first time in 12 meetings in the tournament, handing the Canadian their third straight opening games in the event.

ā€œIt was frustrating,ā€ Canadian forward Connor Brown said. ā€œWe had a lot of chances to score but didnā€™t get enough bodies to the net. Weā€™ve been here for a couple of days and are still getting together, lines are still sorting each other out. It will be OK. Letā€™s put it behind us, learn from it, and get better. Thereā€™s a lot of learning curves. In the third period, we played much better and started to understand how to create offence a little more.ā€

Kivlenieks plays for the NHLā€™s Columbus Blue Jackets. Kuemper made 15 saves for Canada.

Canada will face the United States on Sunday. The United States will open Group B play Saturday against Finland.

In the other Group B game Friday, Marcel Noebels scored twice to help Germany rout Italy 9-4.

In Group A, Mikhail Grigorenko scored with 19 seconds left to give Russia a 4-3 victory over the Czech Republic, and Kristian Pospisil scored twice in Slovakia's 5-2 victory over Belarus.


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