Duchene nets first WC goal; Canada, U.S. top respective groups (Gabriel Landeskog)

The slump is over for Matt Duchene, at least for the moment.

The Avalanche forward collected his first goal and point of the IIHF World Championship tournament Tuesday when Canada defeated Finland 5-2 in Paris.

Canada completed preliminary round play with six wins in seven games to finish first in Group B. The Canadians will play Germany on Thursday in a quarterfinal game in Cologne.

Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard had 18 saves for his third win in four starts, and Nathan MacKinnon had an assist.

"I hope we're peaking at the right time," Duchene told the IIHF web site. "This is the time to peak, right now. We have three games left in our season and we want to make them count. We go 3-0 and we've got a three-peat here. It'd be huge."

Duchene, who had three shots, scored early in the third period. He logged 14:59 while on the third line with Tampa Bay's Alex Killorn and Philadelphia's Sean Couturier.

MacKinnon, who skated with Winnipeg's Mark Scheifele and Carolina's Jeff Skinner, played 15:44 and had one shot. He has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in seven games.

Pickard has a 3-1 record with one shutout, a 1.48 goals-against average and .932 save percentage.

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The United States knocked off Russia 5-3 in Cologne for its sixth consecutive win to finish preliminary play atop Group A, one point ahead of the Russians.

The U.S. will play Finland in quarterfinal play Thursday in Cologne. The defeat was the first for Russia, which meets the Czech Republic on Thursday in Paris.

Avalanche forward J.T. Compher played 7:12 for the Americans while on the fourth line. Defenseman Andrei Mironov didn't dress for Russia.

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Avalanche forwards Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg were held off the scoresheet in Sweden's 4-2 win against Slovakia in Cologne.

Sweden, which ended third in Group A, plays Switzerland in a quarterfinal game Thursday in Paris.

Landeskog had four shots in 16:39 of ice time while on a line with Carolina's Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask. Soderberg had two shots in 10:54 on a line with Columbus' William Karlsson and former Colorado forward Dennis Everberg.

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Mikko Rantanen played 19:16 for Finland and didn't have a shot.

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