Canada tops Sweden at men's world juniors to set up quarter-final clash with Slovakia

Connor Bedard had four assists to tie Eric Lindros for Canada's all-time points record at the world junior hockey championship as the tournament hosts wrapped up preliminary round play with a dominant 5-1 victory over Sweden in Halifax, N.S., on Saturday night.

Brennan Othmann, with two, Joshua Roy, Tyson Hinds and Kevin Korchinski scored for the Canadians. Thomas Milic made 22 saves. Ludvig Jansson replied for Sweden, which got 39 stops from Carl Lindbom.

Canada, which wore its black jerseys on New Year's Eve, will face Slovakia in Monday's quarter-finals at the men's under-20 event, while Sweden is set to take on Finland. United States will face Germany and the Czech Republic will play Switzerland in the other matchups.

The presumptive first pick at the 2023 NHL draft, Bedard has played just 13 total games at the world juniors, while Lindros registered his 31 points in 21 contests over three tournaments.

The first New Year's Eve game at the world juniors since the 2020 tournament, and Canada's first Dec. 31 victory on home soil in eight years, saw the host country shot out of a cannon in front of an electric and well-lubricated crowd inside a sold-out Scotiabank Centre.

Roy took a pass from Bedard and roofed his third goal of the tournament just 57 seconds into the first period before the Swedes took a penalty to send the Canadians and their lethal power play — which entered the game 11-for-16 — to work.

Canada went up 3-0 at 11:45 when Bedard and Logan Stankoven set up Tyson Hinds for his second.

Canadian forward Zack Ostpachuk was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing moments later, opening the door for Sweden — which had absolutely nothing going on — to get on the board when Jansson scored