Canada's men post shootout win over Slovakia to remain unbeaten at hockey worlds
Goalie Sam Montembeault clinches victory, denying Martin Chromiak on final attempt
Jack Quinn scored the winning shootout goal as Canada edged Slovakia 2-1 Monday at the world hockey championship in Riga, Latvia.
Canada goaltender Sam Montembeault clinched the win by stopping Martin Chromiak on Slovakia's final shootout attempt.
"It is a little bit nerve-wracking [in the shootout] and shootouts are not usually the best part of my game," the Montreal Canadiens netminder said in a Hockey Canada news release. "It is a one-on-one situation and you never know what could happen, but I know I needed to do my part.
"We got a big goal [from Quinn] and I just needed to make the last save, and I am glad we got the win. We played a good game today, but we did not capitalize on some opportunities. We are going to keep building off this win, but overall we feel good about our play right now."
Jake Neighbours scored in regulation for Canada, which leads Group A with eight points (two regulation wins, one overtime win) in three games.
Peter Cehlarik scored for Slovakia, which is fourth in the group with four points (one win, one loss, one overtime loss).
WATCH | Montembeault, Quinn lift Canada to 3rd straight win:
Montembeault made 23 saves for Canada in regulation and overtime.
'We have a lot of confidence in him'
"[He] has been really solid since we came together," Canada head coach André Tourigny said. "He played well in our pre-tournament game and has been poised in both tournament games he has played. He is really assertive, and we have a lot of confidence in him."
Quinn, who scored 14 goals and 37 points in his first full NHL season with Buffalo, said Montembeault kept the team in the game.
"It was a hard-fought battle all the way to the end," the right-winger added. "We needed to stick with our game plan, and obviously there was some frustration when [Slovakia] was playing so well defensively and we could not get much going on offence.
"We know we are going to face some adversity in every game we play, so we just need to stay positive and keep getting chances."
Samuel Hlavaj made 42 stops for Slovakia.
Canada returns to action Wednesday against Kazakhstan at 1:20 p.m. ET.
DeSmith backstops U.S. to 3rd victory
In other action, the United States had to fight hard to overcome Germany 3-2 for a third victory in three games in Tampere, Finland.
Matt Coronatto, Sean Farrell and Ronnie Attard each scored for the Americans and T.J. Tynan had two assists at Nokia Arena. Goaltender Casey DeSmith made 30 saves.
Coronatto scored the winner on a power play with 5:10 to go to complete the rally in the final period after Farrell tied the score at 2-2 in the same frame.
After the Germans limited the U.S. to four shots in the opening period, Attard broke the scoreless deadlock at 5:39 into the middle period.
Germany came back with Samuel Soramies's equalizer from a short-handed goal followed by Justin Schutz giving them the lead with five seconds to go on a breakaway.
Finland faced Sweden in Group A later Monday, and the Czechs played Latvia in Group B.
With files from CBC Sports and The Associated Press
