Canada blanks Sweden 6-0, advances to semi-final at World Hockey Championships (HIGHLIGHTS)

Canada is off to the semi-finals after a dominating 6-0 victory over Sweden this morning. Mark Stone and Mark Scheifele each led the way with three points and Canada got balanced scoring, with six different goal scorers.

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After a shaky performance against Finland, Cam Talbot bounced back in this one, making 24 saves for his third shutout of the tournament.

“You just have to have a short memory,” Talbot said. “I erased that one as soon as I got back in the [dressing] room last game, focused on the day off and just came back ready to play.”

Talbot had to make a couple big saves until Canada took control of the game in the middle frame. Leading 1-0, Matt Dumba scored on a point shot through a screen during a powerplay to make it 2-0. Then, quick goals from Brad Marchand and Max Domi put the game out of reach.

“[Talbot’s] a rock back there for us,” said Corey Perry. “You can’t put any blame on him for last game, but he played well tonight and made some big saves in the first period.”

Canada will now advance to take on USA for the second time in the tournament. The Americans upset the Czech Republic 2-1 in a shootout earlier this morning, led by top prospect Auston Matthews.

Matthews picks up a two-goal game with the shootout winner to send Team USA to the semis. https://t.co/QtTjW1LJYx

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) May 19, 2016

In the opening game of the tournament, Canada easily disposed of the Americans by a 5-1 score, but a lot has changed since then.

“Everybody’s going to be different when you see them a second time,” said Perry of the Americans. “They got accustomed to everybody and they’re a quick team. So we’ve got to be ready to play each and every shift. It’s not going to be easy.”

You can see that game on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. on TSN.