IIHF Worlds Recap: Canada 4, Kazakhstan 2

GAME STATS: CANADA 4, KAZAKHSTAN 2

RIGA, Latvia – Cole Perfetti (Whitby, Ont./Manitoba, AHL) scored the
game-winning goal with 12:20 left and Adam Henrique (Burford, Ont./Anaheim,
NHL) had a goal and two assists as Canada’s National Men’s Team made it two
wins in a row at the 2021 IIHF World Championship with a 4-2 victory over
Kazakhstan on Friday.

The win moves Canada (six points) within a point of the Kazakh and Latvians
(seven points each) for a quarterfinal spot in Group B, although Latvia
does have a game in hand.

Andrew Mangiapane (Bolton, Ont./Calgary, NHL) and Connor Brown (Toronto,
Ont./Ottawa, NHL) added a goal and an assist each as the Canadians’ top
line continued to roll offensively; the trio has combined for 14 points in
the last two games since Mangiapane joined the line-up.

“We have some creativity on our line, especially with [Mangiapane] coming into the line-up,” Henrique said post-game. “He adds some skill and creativity, and he works hard. It is the same with [Brown] on the other wing, and we have certainly built up some good chemistry as a line. We have really started to click and we will need to continue that moving forward.”

But it was Perfetti who had the big goal after the Kazakhs had erased a
two-goal deficit; the 19-year-old took a feed from Jaret Anderson-Dolan
(Calgary, Alta./Los Angeles, NHL) in the high slot and whipped a wrist shot
past the glove of goaltender Andrei Shutov.

It’s Goal Perfetti time, of course! ?

Canada takes the lead! ? #KAZCAN #IIHFWorlds @HockeyCanada @NHLJets pic.twitter.com/KmCyndqCZF

— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 28, 2021

Both teams came out firing in a first period that included a combined 27
shots on goal (16-11 in favour of Canada), but it was the Canadians who
struck for the lone goal on the power play.

A loose puck found its way onto the stick of Mangiapane off a wild scramble
in front of Shutov, and he slammed a shot in and out so fast it took a
video review to confirm the Canadians had opened the scoring.

Henrique added the 2-0 goal just 61 seconds into the second period, getting
his stick on a blast from Owen Power (Mississauga, Ont./University of
Michigan, Big Ten) for his third goal in two games.

One day after being ranked No. 1 among North American skaters for the 2021
NHL Draft, Power continued his international coming-out party; the
blueliner logged 26:05 of ice time, more than any skater.

Nikita Mikhailis chipped into the Canadian lead less than five minutes
after the Henrique goal, jumping on an ill-advised pass by Anderson-Dolan
in the Kazakh zone and turning it the other way before beating Darcy Kuemper
(Saskatoon, Sask./Arizona, NHL) to make it a 2-1 game.

Mikhailis struck again to tie the game early in the third period, whipping
a wrist shot off the shoulder of Kuemper, off the post and in to draw
Kazakhstan even.

But Perfetti restored the Canadian lead for good and Brown finished it into
an empty net with three seconds to go.

Canada continues its playoff push Sunday (9 a.m. ET/6 a.m. PT) when it
takes on Italy in its penultimate preliminary-round game.