RIGA – Matiss Kivlenieks made 38 saves and host Latvia beat Canada 2-0 on Friday in their world hockey opener.
Miks Indrasis opened the scoring with 1.5 seconds left in the first period, beating goaltender Darcy Kuemper between the pads.
Oskars Batna made it 2-0 on a tip-in midway through the second period. “We knew that Canada didn’t play a lot together so we wanted to take advantage,” Indrasis said. “I think we played well, scored a couple of goals, and it was enough to win the game.” Latvia beat Canada for the first time in 12 meetings in the tournament, handing the Canadian their third straight opening games in the event. “It was frustrating,” Canadian forward Connor Brown said. “We had a lot of chances to score but didn’t get enough