OTTAWA, Ontario — Danny Nelson scored the eventual winner in the third period and Trey Augustine made 38 saves, leading the United States to a 4-1 win over Canada on Tuesday night and into the top spot in Group A at the world junior hockey championship.
Cole Hutson and Cole Eiserman each had a goal and an assist for the Americans. Ryan Leonard scored into an empty net.
Bradly Nadeau scored for Canada, which allowed three goals on seven American power plays. Carter George stopped 24 shots.
Canada finished third in the pool and will face Czechia in Thursday’s quarterfinals. The Americans face Switzerland.
In another Group A game, Finland beat Latvia 3-0 and finished second in the group.
Benjamin Rautiainen had a goal and an assist and Petteri Rimpenen earned the shutout for Finland, which finished with eight points.
Latvia finished fourth in the group and will face Sweden in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Jesse Kiiskinen and Kasper Halttunen also scored for Finland.
In Group B, Switzerland beat Kazakhstan 3-1 to secure a spot in the quarterfinal round.
Simon Meier and Ludvig Johnson each had a goal and an assist and Robin Antenen also scored for the Swiss, who entered without a point in three earlier games but moved past Kazakhstan into fourth spot in the group.
Kirill Lyapunov scored for Kazakhstan, which came in as fourth in the group after earning a point in a 5-4 overtime loss to Slovakia on Monday.
Switzerland will face the winner of Group A in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Kazakhstan faces Germany in a relegation game, with the loser demoted to the Division I Group A tournament for 2026.
In another Group B game, Sweden completed a sweep of its four preliminary round games, beating Czechia 4-2.
Herman Traff scored twice, and Anton Wahlberg and Felix Unger Sorum also scored for Sweden.
Petr Sikora and Eduard Sale scored for Czechia, which finished second in the group with three wins and a loss.
