BRATISLAVA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Canada broke the 5-5 tie against Slovakia with a last-second power play goal by Mark Stone to put the exciting Group A game away at 6-5 on Monday night.
Twice lead the team of the championship hosts by two goals and twice Canada managed to tie the game up.
The Slovaks stunned the favorites with two goals in quick succession in the first period when Matus Sukel opened the scoring and Adam Liska capitalized on his own rebound. Canada bounced back after Anthony Mantha's fast-break chance and Shea Theodore's power-play goal, 2-2.
A similar scenario unfolded in front of the ecstatic crowd in Kosice in the second period with Ladislav Nagy and Adam Liska stretching the lead back to two and Canada's Jonathan Marchessault and Anthony Cirelli evening things up again, 4-4
Late in the second, Troy Stetcher put Canada in the lead for the first time and forced Slovakia's goaltender Patrik Rybar to substitute, but Matus Sukel's shot went in after a lucky bounce off a defender in the third period to tie things up for the third time, 5-5.
One of the most entertaining matches of the 2019 world championship was heading for overtime and a well-deserved splitting of points, but Mark Stone's power-play goal silenced the home crowd and secured three points for Canada only moments before the final buzzer.
The hosts will enjoy a day's rest and face Germany on Wednesday, Canada will take two days off and meet the French on Thursday.
