Canada's quest for gold remains on track at the world junior hockey championship.
Alexis Lafreniere scored and added an assist in his return from injury as part of a resounding 6-1 victory over Slovakia in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Lafreniere took up his usual spot on Canada's top line with Hayton and Nolan Foote only to see the latter assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a check to the head on Slovakia's Kristian Kovacik just 53 seconds into the first period at Ostravar Arena. Lafreniere's return to action looked to be in serious doubt a week ago as the projected No. 1 pick at the 2020 NHL draft and reigning CHL Player of the Year lay in agony on the ice after twisting his left leg on an awkward fall against Russia.
Hlavaj -- statistically the QMJHL's best goalie in 2019-20 with the league-leading Sherbrooke Phoenix -- did his best to keep the Slovaks in it, but Canada scored four times in the middle period to put things out of reach. The 17-time gold medallists added a sixth one minute into the third on another man advantage when Hayton buried his fifth.Okuliar, who plays on the same line as Cozens with the WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes, broke the shutout bid at 6:10 when he blasted a shot past Hofer.
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