Canada became the first country to defeat Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championship on Saturday in Halifax. Led once again by Connor Bedard, the Maple Leaf won 5-1.

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Canada will face Slovakia in the quarter-finals. Sweden, meanwhile, will face Finland.

After two crushing victories against much less fortunate opponents Germany and Austria, Dennis Williams' men had a much bigger challenge to face in today's duel.

A strong start to the match, however, erased any doubt of the Canadian team's ability to triumph. With just 57 seconds on the clock, Bedard set the stage for the third goal of the tournament for Montreal Canadiens prospect Joshua Roy.

Elias Pettersson did nothing to help his team by visiting the dungeon less than a minute later. Canada's devastating massive attack quickly took advantage of this. Shane Wright served a brilliant snap to Brennan Othmann to double the Maple Leaf's lead.

In addition to being an accomplice to this success, Bedard demonstrated his great talents as a playmaker by collecting two other assists before the conclusion of the duel. At the same time, he tied Eric Lindros for the top Canadian scorer in World Juniors history, with 17.

Another major penalty

Sweden had an excellent chance to close the gap midway through the first half when Zack Ostapchuk was awarded a major penalty for landing a knee.

Defender Ludvig Jansson made it 3-1 in this massive attack situation.

Canada also offered a double numerical superiority to Sweden, in the middle period, but it came up against a Thomas Milic in full possession of his means.

Othmann scored his second of the game early in the third period. Defenders Tyson Hinds and Kevin Korchinski also threaded the needle in victory.

Elsewhere, Kirby Dach's younger brother, Colton, left the game in the second half, visibly affected by a shoulder injury.