U.S., Canada win World Championship openers
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The United States and Canada were among the winners Saturday in the 2013 World Hockey Championship.
The Americans rallied from a two-goal deficit and claimed a 5-3 win over Austria in their opener, while the Canadians spotted Denmark the first goal before capturing a 3-1 decision.
Erik Johnson scored twice during a four-goal second period for the U.S. Tim Stapleton, Aaron Palushaj and David Moss also scored for the Americans in the Group H opener of the preliminary round. Ben Bishop stopped 18 shots in the victory.
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The U.S. trailed 2-1 after the first period, but Johnson scored just 3:38 into the second to tie it and Stapleton put the Americans ahead at the 9:31 mark before Palushaj made it 4-2 just 1:26 later.
After David Schuller scored on a breakaway for Austria, Johnson found the back of the net again on a power play with 1:28 remaining in the second to restore a two-goal bulge. The Austrians managed just two shots in a scoreless third period.
Austria scored a pair of goals just a minute apart and led 2-0 just over 5 1/2 minutes into the game, but Moss cashed in a power play midway through the first to start the U.S. comeback.
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Matt Duchene netted a pair of goals for Canada in its Group S opener. Steven Stamkos also scored and Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves in the victory.
The Danes picked up the lone goal of the first period when Morten Green converted a power play at the 4:50 mark, but Duchene and Stamkos scored 1:23 apart midway through the second period to put the Canadians in front.
Duchene added his second of the game at 7:03 of the third and Dubnyk turned aside 11 shots in the final stanza.
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Former Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is guiding Team Canada, which is playing in Stockholm, Sweden. In other Group S play on Saturday, Norway topped Slovenia, 3-1, and the host Swedes came through with a 2-1 decision over the Czech Republic.
Joe Sacco, recently fired as coach of the Colorado Avalanche, is in charge of the American team in Helsinki. Russia also prevailed in Group H on Saturday with a 6-0 rout of Latvia, with Finland posting a 2-0 shutout over Slovakia later in the bracket.