Canada scores 16 vs. Germany in world juniors opener

Team Canada is off to a scorching start at this year's world juniors.

Canada showed no mercy Saturday and easily took care of a short-staffed German team in the country's first game of the world juniors, winning 16-2.

Kaiden Guhle opened the scoring two minutes into the game. Soon after, Dawson Mercer took advantage of a mishap by German goaltender Arno Tiefensee to bury an easy shorthanded goal.

Halfway through the first, defenseman Braden Schneider was ejected from the game for delivering a hit to the head, which gave the Germans a five-minute power play. John-Jason Peterka managed to snipe one past Devon Levi to get Germany on the board at the end of the man advantage.

After the Germans saw a glimmer of hope, Canada's Phil Tomasino netted one just a minute later. As the clock expired, Peyton Krebs beat the buzzer for another goal to put Canada up 4-1 even though time seemed to have expired before the puck crossed the line.

Canada turned on the jets in the second period and scored seven goals. Mercer, Krebs, and Tomasino each netted their second, while Alex Newhook potted two. Ryan Suzuki and Dylan Cozens scored the others.

The third period didn't get any easier for the Germans as Canada scored five goals on its first five shots of the period. The onslaught continued through the end of the game, but Germany managed to squeeze in its second goal in the dying seconds.

Cozens ended the game with a hat trick. Jakob Pelletier, Thomas Harley, and Connor McMichael rounded out Canada's list of scorers as Canada outshot the Germans 44-15.

Canada's 16 goals in a single world juniors game came two shy of the country's record of 18 set in 1985 and equaled in 1986, according to Sportsnet Stats. It was the most goals the country has scored in a game since the Canadians put up 16 against Latvia in 2009.

Germany's loss was the team's second straight game with just 14 skaters due to COVID-19 quarantine requirements.

This was Canada's first game and win of the tournament. Germany already dropped its first game against Finland on Friday. Canada is set to take on Slovakia at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, and Germany will also take on the Slovaks at 9:30 p.m. on Monday.