PARIS (AP) — Canada rallied to beat France 3-2 on Thursday night in the world hockey championship, breaking a tie early in the third period when the puck deflected past goalie Florian Hardy off French teammate Jonathan Janil.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic was credited with the goal.
The defending champion Canadians (4-0) tied it at 2 on Claude Giroux’s power-play goal late in the second period.
Canada’s Ryan O’Reilly opened the scoring on a power in the first period. France’s Olivier Dame-Malka tied it in the first, and Damien Fleury gave France the lead on a power play early in the second.
Canada’s Jeff Skinner was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for a spear on Hardy in the third. Dame-Malka also was penalized for high-sticking.
Hardy made 32 saves, and Canada’s Chad Johnson stopped 22 shots.
Bidding for a third straight world title and a record-equaling 27th overall, Canada leads Group B with 12 points. The Canadians are three points ahead of Switzerland and five clear of third-place Czech Republic and fourth-place Norway — separated on goal difference. Finland is fifth, and France sixth.
The Czech Republic beat Norway 1-0 on Jan Kovar’s overtime goal.
In Group A in Cologne, Germany, Russia scored three goals in a 1:10 span in the second period in a 3-0 victory over Denmark. Bogdan Kiselevich, Sergei Plotnikov and Nikita Gusev scored for Russia. Gabriel Landeskog and Elias Lindholm scored in Sweden’s 2-0 victory over Latvia.
Russia leads the group with 11 points, with the second-place United States and third-place Latvia two points behind and separated by goal difference. Sweden is fourth with seven points.
The top four from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.