Taylor Hall, Canada cruise to 10-0 win over Germany at worlds

PRAGUE -- Canada eased to another high-scoring victory at the World Hockey Championships on Sunday by overwhelming Germany 10-0.

Edmonton forward Taylor Hall had a hat trick for Canada, which produced an even more dominant performance than in its opening 6-1 victory over Latvia in Group A.

Sidney Crosby and Hall scored 23 seconds apart and Dallas forward Cody Eakin added two more goals in the opening period as the Canadians decided the game early.

"It was good," Crosby said. "I thought we were better today than we were last game. So that's the most important thing -- you gotta get better with every game. It should happen as the guys get more comfortable with the ice."

Los Angeles goalie Martin Jones made 17 saves for the shutout.

Also Sunday, defending champion Russia and Sweden also made it two straight wins with victories over newcomers Slovenia and Austria, respectively.

Evgeni Dadonov contributed two goals and two assists in Russia's 5-3 win in Group B. In Group A in Prague, Nashville Predators center Filip Forsberg led Sweden with a hat trick and an assist in a 6-1 victory.

Finland, which was last year's runner-up, rebounded from a loss to the United States by beating Denmark 3-0 in Group B. Jussi Jokinen, Janne Pesonen and Aleksander Barkov scored for Finland.

Crosby scored in a second straight game for Canada, while Claude Giroux had a goal and two assists as the team added another five goals in the second period. Matt Duchene finished off the rout by scoring in the third, to go with his three assists.

"I think so far we've showed the firepower we have," Duchene said. "But it's two games, we have the big one against the Czechs next. We have to prove ourselves every night because all it takes is one loss and you can be out of the tournament."

Canada plays host Czech Republic on Monday in what might be the first real test for the star-studded team.

Russia also came out attacking in the first period, with captain Ilya Kovalchuk and New York Islanders left winger Nikolay Kulemin scoring 36 seconds apart early. Dadonov added his first with 1:04 left in the period for a comfortable 3-0 lead.

"It's good that I managed to score a couple of goals, but in general, we made too many mistakes," Dadonov said.

Vadim Schipachyov also scored for Russia and added a couple of assists, while Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin played his first game at the worlds.

Los Angeles Kings star Anze Kopitar and Ziga Pance scored for Slovenia in the second period and Robert Sabolic added one in the third.

Forsberg opened the scoring for Sweden and completed his hat trick for a 6-0 lead in the second period, forcing Austria to pull goalie Rene Swette.

Oscar Klefbom, Anton Lander and Elias Lindholm also had a goal each.

"We did a pretty good job," Klefbom said. "They came out hard but we played pretty solid, we got a couple of goals and we kept working hard."

Also Slovakia won for the second time after prevailing in overtime to edge Belarus 2-1 in Group B and Switzerland topped France 3-1 for its first win in Group A.