THE CANADIAN PRESS
SASKATOON — Windsor Spitfires forward Richard Panik scored two of Slovakia’s five first-period goals in an 8-3 win over Latvia at the world junior hockey championship Sunday.
Panik, a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in last June’s draft, put the Slovaks (1-1) up 2-0 with a pair of goals just 3:44 into the game. He added an assist on Marek Viedensky’s goal at 5:31 of the period, and Slovakia added two more to go into the intermission up 5-0.
Tomas Tatar also scored twice in the victory, while Viedensky finished with a goal and three assists. Matus Rais, Radoslav Illo and Jakub Gasparovic added singles.
Roberts Bukarts led the Latvians (0-2) with a pair of goals, while Miks Lipsbergs also scored in defeat.
Marek Ciliak turned aside 26 shots to earn the win for Slovakia.
Latvian netminders Janis Kalnins and Raimonds Ermics, who were victimized 16 times in their tournament-opening loss to Canada, combined to stop 33 shots Sunday.
