McTavish scores 4 times as Canada thumps Slovakia 11-1 at World Juniors

After a slightly unconvincing start to the rescheduled World Juniors in the form of a 5-2 win over Latvia on Wednesday, the Canadians came to play on Thursday.

Captain Mason McTavish led the way with four goals and added a pair of assists for good measure as Canada thumped Slovakia 11-1.

FINAL | Mason McTavish tied a Canadian record with four goals – and added two assists – and 14 skaters recorded at least a point as 🇨🇦 downed 🇸🇰 11-1.

📰 https://t.co/bVUkpOqKd4#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/QQnB1FJaT4

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 12, 2022

Once again it was Connor Bedard opening the scoring and it was on a gorgeous give and go with McTavish.

Will Cuylle, Brennan Othmann and Olen Zellweger followed up Bedard’s goal with goals of their own to give the hosts a 4-0 lead after the opening frame.

Canada exploded for four more goals in the second, one off the stick of Logan Stankoven and the other three from McTavish.

Sandwiched in the middle of those four goals was Slovakia’s lone tally courtesy of Matej Kaslik.

Frame by frame. 🇨🇦🇸🇰#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/cb26LnJ71I

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) August 12, 2022

In the final period, McTavish scored again to extend the lead to 9-1 before Joshua Roy and Zack Ostapchuk eached netted their first goals of the tournament to finish things off.

McTavish was one of 10 Canadian players who had multi-point games on Thursday, while Dylan Garand made 22 saves for the easy victory.

Next up for Canada is a showdown with Czechia on Saturday afternoon.