2018 IIHF World Junior Championship

POINT GETS SHUTOUT, CANADA BLANKS SLOVAKS AT WJC

JASON LA ROSE

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Colton Point (North Bay, Ont./Colgate University, ECAC) made 20 saves for the shutout in his Program of Excellence debut, backstopping Canada’s National Junior Team to a 6-0 win over Slovakia on Wednesday night at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Point made six saves each in the first and third periods and eight in the second to help the Canadians stay perfect at the World Juniors, and stay unbeaten all-time against the Slovaks (11-0-1).

Sam Steel (Sherwood Park, Alta./Regina, WHL) needed just 2:39 to open the scoring, banging in a loose puck after a point shot from Cale Makar (Calgary, Alta./University of Massachusetts, HE) pinballed to the side of the net.

That was it for scoring in the first period despite Canada holding a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal.

The Canadians pulled away in the second, finding the back of the net three times in just over nine minutes to take control.

Jordan Kyrou (Toronto, Ont,/Sarnia, OHL) doubled the lead to 2-0 on the power play, sliding the puck through the legs of a defender before whipping a wrist shot past Slovak netminder David Hrenak only 84 seconds into the middle frame.

Jonah Gadjovich (Whitby, Ont,/Owen Sound, OHL) tucked in his first of two goals at 5:43, and Taylor Raddysh (Caledon, Ont./Erie, OHL) buried his own rebound from in close on another Canadian man advantage at 10:33 to make it a four-goal lead after 40 minutes.

A pair of late goals capped the scoring in the third period; Maxime Comtois (Longueuil, Que./Victoriaville, QMJHL) jumped on an offensive-zone turnover and roofed a backhand past Hrenak, before Gadjovich redirected a feed from Michael McLeod (Mississauga, Ont./Mississauga, OHL) with 90 seconds left.

Canada heads outside for its next preliminary-round game, taking on the host United States on Friday afternoon (3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT) in the first outdoor game in IIHF World Junior Championship history.