![Team Canada (May 23, 2024) [1296x729]](https://a.espncdn.com/photo/2024/0523/r1336687_1296x729_16-9.jpg)
Panthers on cusp of 1st title Hardest game next
PRAGUE -- Nick Paul scored two goals as defending champion Canada beat Slovakia 6-3 to reach the semifinals at the ice hockey world championship on Thursday.
Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist and Jared McCann, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Brandon Tanev also scored for 28-time champion Canada in the quarterfinal.
McCann and Dubois scored in a 90-second span early in the opening period, before Peter Cehlarik made it 2-1 when Brandon Hagel deflected the Slovak's pass into his own net.
Canada extended its lead to 5-1 with Paul's second-period goal followed by two goals within 20 seconds in the third -- Guenther first and then Tanev.
Slovakia was not done, though.
Milos Kelemen netted Slovakia's second goal before Marek Hrivik used a 5-on-3 advantage to reduce Canada's lead to 5-3 before Paul's second into an empty net.
Switzerland eliminated Germany in the other quarterfinal by edging last year's runner-up 3-1 in Ostrava.
Christoph Bertschy led the Swiss with two goals. He gave the Swiss a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal before New Jersey Devils forward Nico Hischier added the second.
Dominik Kahun reduced the lead to 2-1 midway through the middle period on a power play before Bertschy added his second into an empty net in the third.
In the remaining quarterfinals later Thursday, the United States faces the Czech Republic in Prague, while Sweden plays Finland in Ostrava.
