Canada's Parker Wotherspoon, center, celebrates his goal with Canada's Sidney Crosby, left, and Canada's John Tavares, right, during the 2026 IIHF Men's Ice Hockey World Championship preliminary round group B game between Canada and Denmark, in Fribourg, Switzerland, Monday, May 18, 2026. (Cyril Zingaro/Keystone via AP)

By The Canadian Press

Canada catches fire in third to beat Denmark 5-1, remain perfect at hockey worlds

May 18, 2026 | 11:02 AM

FRIBOURG — Porter Martone had a goal and an assist, Sidney Crosby had four assists and Canada defeated Denmark 5-1 for its third straight win at the ice hockey world championship on Monday.

Gabriel Vilardi, Denton Mateychuk, Ryan O’Reilly and Parker Wotherspoon also scored for Canada, with Macklin Celebrini dishing out two assists. Jet Greaves made 15 saves.

Nick Olesen had Denmark’s lone goal. Nicolaj Henriksen stopped 33 shots in the loss.

“Denmark’s goalie made some big saves and we had some looks that we did not convert on, but I thought we controlled the play,” Crosby said. “We were not discouraged or frustrated with our play because we were playing well, but we wanted to trust our game especially since we had that quarterfinal from (last year’s men’s worlds) fresh in our minds.

“It was a good test for us today, but we showed a lot of poise and patience, and we were able to get a big goal early in the third. That goal from (Martone) opened things up offensively a little bit.”

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The game was scoreless until Martone got things going 28 seconds into the third period. Vilardi and Mateychuk made it a 3-0 game by the 3:33 mark.

Olesen scored at 10:12 but O’Reilly quickly answered back 1:37 later to restore Canada’s three-goal lead. Wotherspoon sealed the scoring with 29 seconds left.

“Denmark is a team that protects the interior of the ice well, and they defend well and are fearless shot-blockers,” Canada head coach Misha Donskov said. “They have great resilience in their game, but our message to our group was to stick with our plan and stay calm, and good things will happen.

“It took us a while to find our game, and eventually we did in the third period. Our skill took over and we were getting inside the dots, and we were able to capitalize on our chances.”

Canada (3-0) leads Group A with nine points, with Denmark (0-3) sits in last. The Canadians will next face Norway on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2026.

The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Canada catches fire in third to beat Denmark 5-1, remain perfect at hockey worlds

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