Russia and Slovakia have both scored wins and remain atop the Group-A standings at the World Ice Hockey Championships in Austria.
Russia defeated Belarus, 2-0, while Slovakia crushed host country Austria, 8-1, in Vienna. Marian Gaborik opened the scoring for Slovakia, followed by Zigmund Palffy and Lubomir Visnovsky. Slovakia added five goals in the third period.
The Slovaks lead Group-A with five points and a better goal differential than the Russians, who also have five points from three games. Russia, Slovakia and Belarus qualify for the second round.
In Group-C,Sweden fought back from a goal down to beat Finland, 5-1, and take over the group lead. Niklas Kronvall, Ronnie Sundin, Jonathan Hedstrom and Samuel Pahlsson scored for Sweden.
Also in Group-C at Innsbruck, Ukraine defeated Denmark, 2-1. Sergii Varlamov and Bogdan Savenko scored for Ukraine while Lasse Degn scored for Denmark. Sweden, Finland, and Ukraine qualify for the second round.
The top three finishers in each group advance to the second round. The last place finishers are relegated, but will play to see which teams remain in the championships next year.
Some information for this report provided by AP