Kaiden Guhle and Team Canada Eliminate Juraj Slafkovsky and Team Slovakia at the World Hockey Championship

Montreal Canadiens fans who tuned in to the quarterfinal matchup between Canada and Slovakia at the World Hockey Championship were in for an extra treat with Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky's lines squaring off. Guhle and Damon Severson made up the shutdown pair for Andre Tourigny's defensive corp, which led them to be matched against Slafkovsky, Peter Cehlarik, and Marek Hrivik.

Slafkovsky's line got the upper hand on Guhle and Severson early, with Slafkovsky carrying the puck up through center ice and dishing off to former Boston Bruin Cehlarik, whose centering pass in the offensive zone was deflected in by some friendly fire from Brandon Hagel.

There was a scary moment for Slafkovsky in the third period when he blocked a John Tavares shot off his hand/wrist area on the penalty kill. Slafkovsky dropped his glove and skated off in discomfort but returned. 

Canada 6 - Slovakia 3

Jared McCann scored less than three minutes into the first period for Canada off a pass from Colton Parayko. The Seattle forward took the pass and went on a partial breakaway, chipping the puck over a diving Slovakia goaltender. Pierre-Luc Debois padded the lead with another goal less than two minutes later, making it look like things could get ugly in the quarterfinal game.

Slovakia changed that on the previously mentioned Peter Cehlarik goal, cutting the lead to 2-1 before the end of the period. Guhle and Severson had given up a goal in their matchup, but given the circumstances of the lucky tally, Tourigny opted to keep them matched with Slafkovsky.

Slovakia couldn't find an equalizer, as Nick Paul eventually extended Canada's lead with a goal from Connor Bedard and Dylan Guenther. Guenther added another goal to make it 4-1, then Brandon Tanev made it 5-1 with Guhle and Severson on the ice. Guhle made a nice play in the defensive zone, which turned into Severson joining the rush up the ice and assisting on Tanev's marker.

Milos Keleman made it 5-2 less than 30 seconds later, then after a controversial two-penalty call on one play, Marek Hrivik made it 5-3 on the 5 on 3 powerplay.

Canada avoided another near-disaster like their game against Austria in the round-robin, with Nick Paul icing the game on an empty netter to seal the 6-3 victory.

A Look Ahead

Juraj Slafkovsky and Slovakia will go home after losing to Canada in the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Kaiden Guhle and Canada guaranteed themselves two more games. The semifinal will be on Saturday, and then the gold and bronze medal games will be on Sunday.

It's unknown which country Canada will play in the semifinal, as the playoffs will reseed after the quarterfinals end. Cole Caufield and Team USA play against Czechia in one quarterfinal at 2:20 PM ET, while Oliver Kapanen and Team Finland play against rival Sweden.