Sweden stays perfect; Britain, Poland relegated

PRAGUE — Sweden beat France 3-1 to preserve a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship and clinch a group top spot Monday.

Lucas Raymond scored and added an assist, defenseman Erik Karlsson scored his fourth goal of the tournament on a power play, and Andre Burakovsky had an empty net goal for Sweden to record a sixth win in six Group B matches.

Charles Bertrand scored the lone goal for France, which is seventh.

In Group A, Norway beat last-place Britain 5-2 and was sixth.

The Brits remain pointless with a game to go in the group stage and are relegated after one year in the top division.

Later Monday, Hannes Bjorninen and Rasmus Rissanen scored 1:37 apart in the final period to help Finland pass Denmark 3-1, a result that keep the Finns in contention for fourth place in the group and a playoff spot.

Finland has three more points than Austria with both to play one more game. In their encounter, Austria defeated Finland 3-2 and would advance if they are tied on points.

In Group B, Kazakhstan rallied past newcomer Poland 3-1. Poland qualified for the worlds after 22 years only to be immediately relegated after collecting only one point. Kazakhstan moved to sixth with six points.