ZURICH — The United States set up a quarterfinal showdown with fierce rival Canada at the ice hockey world championship by beating Austria 4-1 on Tuesday.
The U.S. and Canada met in the final at the Milan Cortina Olympics in February, when the Americans prevailed 2-1 in overtime to take the gold medal.
Connor Clifton, Ryan Ufko, Paul Cotter and Matthew Tkachuk scored against Austria, and Will Borgen registered two assists. Devin Cooley made 25 saves in net.
The victory lifted the defending world champion Americans to fourth place in Group A. That means they next face Canada, which topped Group B.
“I liked our game overall and thought our goaltending was excellent,” U.S. coach Don Granato said. “We look forward to the challenge ahead in facing Canada on Thursday.”
The remaining quarterfinal pairings are Switzerland versus Sweden, Finland versus Czechia and Norway versus Latvia.
Clifton found the top corner of the net 5:34 into the game, and fellow defenseman Ufko doubled the advantage by one-timing a slap shot from the point 45 seconds later.
Cotter made it 3-0 just 67 seconds into the second period before Tkachuk buried a rebound on a power play at 31:52. It was Tkachuk’s fourth goal in four games since he joined the team last week.
Simeon Schwinger scored for Austria, which finished sixth.
Canada unbeaten
Macklin Celebrini scored two goals as Canada rallied past Czechia 3-2 to complete the preliminary stage with seven wins in seven games (one in overtime).
John Tavares scored the winner in the third period. Sidney Crosby and Parker Wotherspoon contributed two assists each.
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Canada won Group B in Fribourg with 20 points, followed by Norway and Czechia.
The Czechs went ahead 2-0 after a first-period goal from Marek Alscher and another by Dominik Kubalík 8:18 into the middle period.
Crosby set up Celebrini from the slot to start the rally with 5:58 remaining in the second. Crosby then found Celebrini unmarked 7:14 into the third for his second goal of the game — and fifth of the tournament — to tie it at 2-2. Tavares netted a backhander for the winner.
Perfect hosts
In Zurich, Ken Jager scored his second goal on a power play with 3:13 to go in host Switzerland’s 4-2 win over Finland.
Switzerland, with seven straight wins, all in regulation, dominated Group A with 21 points, three more than Finland.
Attilio Biasca and Jager gave the Swiss an early 2-0 advantage before Finland’s Aleksander Barkov scored twice in the second period.
After Jager’s second, Nico Hischier added an empty-netter.
Sweden, Latvia advance
Sweden, the bronze medalist in the last two world championships, beat Slovakia 4-2 in Group B in Fribourg to advance to the quarterfinals.
Ivar Stenberg, a top prospect for next month’s NHL draft, scored the winning goal; Anton Frondell and Jakob Silfverberg had a goal apiece; and Oliver Ekman-Larsson sealed the win with an empty-net score.
Sweden clinched fourth place while Slovakia finished fifth and didn’t advance.
Latvia reached the quarterfinals by routing Hungary 8-1, moving to third place in Group A. Germany dropped to fifth and was eliminated.
Norway, which already had qualified for the last eight for the first time since 2012, needed overtime to down Denmark 4-3 in Group B action in Fribourg.