( AFP ) - Captain Alexei Morozov scored his second goal in sudden-death overtime as Russia rallied to beat the Czech Republic 5- 4 in the preliminary round of the World Ice Hockey Championships.
Morozov's goal just over three minutes into the extra session spoiled a superb performance Sunday by Czech forward Patrik Elias who had a hat trick at the Colisee arena.
The thrilling see-saw game featured four lead changes, seven power play goals and a Russian penalty shot in overtime.
"The Canadian public saw a great game today," Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov said. "I wasn't happy with our first two periods but by the third period we were playing better."
In Group B action, Dany Heatley had a goal and three assists and Pascal Leclaire stopped 30 shots for the shutout as defending champion Canada cruised to a 7-0 win over Latvia at the Halifax Metro Centre arena.
The United States defeated Slovenia 5- 1 in the other Halifax game while Denmark rolled over Italy 6- 2 in the late game Quebec City.
With the victory, Russia takes over first place in Group D with five points in two games, one point ahead of the Czechs.
Russia is trying to snap a gold medal drought dating back to 1993.
The last time Russia and the Czechs met in a Worlds was the quarter-finals of the 2007 tournament where Russia won 4-0 and went on to capture the bronze.
Konstantin Gorovikov, Kostantin Korneyev and Sergei Zinoviev also scored for Russia which outshot the Czechs 4- 2 in the overtime.
"They are greedy," Elias said of the Russians. "You can never underestimated their power. They played as a team and they play a very tough hockey game."
Elias' three goals all came on the power play. Buffalo Sabres forward Ales Kotalik added another power-play goal for the Czechs who blew two leads in the game (2-1, 4-3) and outshot the Russians 43-27.
"We made a couple of mistakes and they have great players to make a great power plays," Russian star Alex Ovechkin said. "They scored all of their goals on the powerplay. Today we did not shoot enough on their goaltender."
Morozov capped off an exciting overtime frame, taking a drop pass from Zinoviev and firing it between the blocker of Czech goalie Milan Hnilicka and the far post.
The overtime started with Russia's Ilya Kovalchuk being awarded a penalty shot after just 30 seconds when he was hauled down on a breakaway by defenceman Tomas Kaberle. But after some nifty stickhandling moves, Kovalchuk's shot hit the left post and sailed into the corner.
The victory may have proved costly for Russia as starting goaltender Alexander Eremenko left the game with an suspected knee injury. Russia is now left with just one healthy goalie because their third string goalie is also hurt, Bykov said.
Eremenko was replaced by backup Mikhail Biryukov and it seemed to spark the Russians as Morozov scored the first of his two goals just minutes later to give Russia a 3-2 lead.
Bykov said Eremenko would be examined by a doctor and they would know more about his condition on Monday.
In Halifax, Canada's Rick Nash had two goals against Latvia which is hosting the tournament for the first time in the 100-year history of the International Ice Hockey Federation.
With his four points on Sunday, Heatley surpassed current general manager Steve Yzerman for the all-time lead for Canada in World Championships.
Heatley is playing on a star-studded line with Anaheim Ducks Ryan Getzlaf and Columbus Blue Jackets Nash. The trio have 16 points two games so far.
"That line is phenomenal," Canadian forward Shane Doan said. "The great thing about our team is we got three other lines that have still got to get going."
Like Russia, Canada is also 2-0 after beating Slovenia 5- 1 in their opening game.
Canada will get their first big test Tuesday when they face the United States.