Canada beat Germany

Germany were coming off their initial win of the tournament, but had to feel a bit of trepidation facing off with undefeated Canada, who had racked up a goal difference of +18 in their first three matches.

The Germans were clearly focusing on defense in St. Petersburg, an approach that bore fruit as they held Canada to a single goal in the first period. Taylor Hall opened the scoring at 3:54, but after that the favorites and title holders were stymied. Germany's Gerrit Fauser had a goal disallowed after a video replay showed his skate had touched the puck.

Canada doubled their lead with a power-play goal by Corey Perry three minutes into the second period. But Germany stormed back as Patrick Reimer (31:31) and game MVP Sinan Akdag (37:36) put the puck in the net. After two periods the score between underdogs Germany and mighty Canada was 2-2.

"We really irritated them today," Akdag said after the game. "We didn't just defend like last year. We were also courageous going forward. You saw we have a great team."

But in the third period, Canada's superior skills proved too much for the Germans. Taylor Hall restored the defending world champs' lead at 43:12. Boone Jenner (46:50) and Cody Ceci (53:17) completed the final 5-2 scoreline.

Canada stay top of Group B, while Germany drop down to sixth. Germany's next match comes on Friday, when they face Belarus.

In Thursday's Group A match, Russia obliterated Denmark 10-1.