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Anthony Mantha scores twice, Canada tops France at hockey worlds

Posted at 3:22 PM, May 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-16 15:22:25-04

KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) -- Anthony Mantha scored twice to lift Canada to a 5-2 victory over France at the hockey world championship on Thursday.

Mantha opened the scoring on a 5-on-3 power play with a slap shot in the opening period and added his second for a 4-2 lead in the final frame. Mantha now has a team-high five goals and four assists from four games.

Canada moved to the second place in Group A in Kosice with nine points, three behind leading Germany and one ahead of the United States in third.

After starting with a loss to Finland, the Canadians have bounced back with three straight wins. They still have to face Germany, Denmark and the United States in their remaining preliminary-round games.

Darnell Nurse, Anthony Cirelli and Mark Stone also had a goal apiece. Damien Fleury and Anthony Rech scored for France.

In Group B, Gabriel Landeskog scored just 69 seconds into his first game at the tournament to kickstart Sweden's 9-1 rout of Austria.

Landeskog, who also had two assists, only arrived in Bratislava on Thursday morning to join the two-time defending champion after his Colorado Avalanche were eliminated from the NHL playoffs.

William Nylander had a goal and an assist to join Russsia's Nikita Kucherov atop the scoring chart with 10 points from three goals and seven assists.

With nine points from four games, the Swedes trail undefeated Russia and Switzerland in Group B by three points.

Finland plays Denmark in Group A later Thursday while the Czech Republic faces Latvia in Group B.