Canada beat Norway 4-2 in a IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championships preliminary round group B match at the Arena Riga in Riga, on May 26, 2021.GINTS IVUSKANS/AFP/Getty Images
Captain Adam Henrique had two goals and an assist Wednesday as Canada picked up its first win at the world hockey championship with a 4-2 victory over Norway.
Connor Brown had a goal and two assists and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for Canada, which improved to 1-3.
Thomas Valkvae-Olsen and Mats Roselli-Olsen scored for Norway (1-3).
Darcy Kuemper made 13 saves for Canada. Henrik Haukeland stopped 38 shots for Norway.
The win moved Canada into a tie for sixth place in Group B with Norway at three points.
Canada has never failed to make the playoffs at the world championship. Its worst finish was eighth in 1992.
Facing a must-win situation, Brown got Canada on the board early with a goal 22 seconds into the game.
Henrique’s power-play goal midway through the period put the Canadians up 2-0.
But a Canadian team that has had trouble catching a break saw that lead evaporate in the second period when Valkvae-Olsen and Roselli-Olsen scored 80 seconds apart.
Mangiapane put Canada back in front with a goal at 14:41 of the second, and Henrique capped the scoring with a short-handed goal midway through the third.
Germany leads Group B with nine points, followed by Latvia, Finland and Kazakhstan at seven. The top four teams in each pool advance to the quarter-finals.
Canada’s next game is Thursday against Kazakhstan. The Canadians then play winless Italy before finishing the round-robin against 2019 champion Finland.
In other games on Wednesday, Russia beat Denmark 3-0; Kazakhstan defeated Germany 3-2 and Great Britain edged Belarus 4-3.