MINSK, Belarus -- Defending champion Sweden made the first step in its title defence with a 3-0 victory over Denmark at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday. Maillot Foot 2018 Equipe De France . Calgary Flames forward Mikael Backlund scored twice in the opening period when the Swedes displayed fast, well organized play that was tough for Denmark to match. "It was nice to have a few goals right away, keep the pressure off and the nerves away," Backlund said. Another Scandinavian superpower, Finland, began its campaign with an upset 3-2 loss to Latvia and Norway blanked Italy 3-0 while Germany prevailed in a shootout to beat Kazakhstan 2-1. Backlund scored his first for Sweden when defenceman Markus Lauridsen deflected his shot to the net with his skate and struck again by precisely directing Joakim Lindstroms slap shot. Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist added the third on a solo effort after intercepting a pass. "Once we got up two to nothing we stopped taking the puck to the net," Nyquist said. "We tried to make too many passes instead of shooting the puck." Latvia failed to capitalize on its second-period power plays when a total of seven Finns were in the penalty box. Finland used its only power play in that period to go 2-1 up with a goal by Petri Kontiola. Kristaps Sotnieks tied the match for Latvia -- the quarterfinalist in the Sochi Winter Olympics -- in the third before Arturs Kulda netted the winner on a power play. It was the first victory for Latvia over Finland at the worlds. Thomas Oppenheimer scored the decisive goal in the shootout to give Germany the win. Germany outshot its opponent 47-20 but Kazakhstan went ahead 1-0 after a goal from Andrei Gavrilin. The Germans answered through Matthias Plachta at the end of the first period. "I have to look at the positive," German coach Pat Cortina said. "We put the puck to the net and that is extremely important for our team." Niklas Roest opened the scoring in the first period for Norway, Morten Ask made it 2-0 midway through the game and captain Anders Bastiansen rounded off the victory on a breakaway in the third. "I tried to shoot early to surprise the goalie and it went in, so I was really happy," Bastiansen said. "We did a good job. We won and thats the most important thing." Goaltender Lars Haugen made 15 saves for the shutout, but needed help from his posts on two shots by defenceman Daniel Sullivan in the second. "We had a little difficulty in the beginning, adjusting to the speed," Italy coach Tom Pokel said. "However, as the game went on we got better and better. So it was a good game for us." Italy and Kazakhstan are both newcomers to the top division this year. Later Saturday, Canada hopes to rebound from Fridays 3-2 loss to France with a win against Slovakia, while the United States faces Switzerland a day after it routed host Belarus 6-1. Maillot Lucas Hernandez . -- DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points, nine rebounds and six steals to lead the Sacramento Kings to their third straight preseason win, a 107-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. Maillot Antoine Griezmann 2018 . Though the 26-year-old said he was able to participate, coach Dwane Casey kept Johnson out as a precaution. http://www.francemaillotcoupedumonde.fr/maillot-ousmane-dembele.html . Second-seeded Sloane Stephens of the United States made lighter work of her day as she beat 2009 champion and Swiss wild card Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3. Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No. ST. JOHNS, N.L. -- Michael Hutchinson has been the difference-maker for the St. Johns IceCaps throughout the American Hockey League Eastern Conference final. Tuesdays Game 6 was no different. Hutchinson made 34 saves as St. Johns advanced to the Calder Cup final with a 5-0 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. "Hutchinson is playing really well right now and he played a strong game tonight," IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge said. "He has done nothing but show he is a goaltender who is knocking on the door of the National Hockey League since we got him." The modest netminder credited his team with the shutout performance, saying the players in front of him played a great defensive game. "Fortunately the guys blocked a lot of shots, cleared rebounds and tied up sticks," Hutchinson said. "They really let me see the puck, and when I was able to see the puck I held onto it. It was a great team effort." Hutchinson added that winning the elimination game feels "unbelievable." "This is what you go for all season, to play for a championship," he said. "To get here is an unbelievable feeling, and to win on home ice makes it that much more special." McCambridge said the IceCaps were hoping the team would eliminatee the Penguins on the road, but he was happy with the Game 6 win. Maillot Nabil Fekir Equipe De France. "Everybody was disappointed that we were unable to close out the series in five (games) but you have to be realistic," he said. "Youre in the conference finals and its hard to close out (in five games), its rare. We said that if we were able to take two out of three in the oppositions building against a very good team, wed be happy with it." Eric ODell, Blair Riley, Adam Lowry, Jason Jaffray and Zach Redmond scored for St. Johns. The IceCaps opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 17:53 of the first period. ODell tipped a shot from Brenden Kichton in over the blocker of Penguins goalie Peter Mannino. Lowry doubled the IceCaps lead 3:24 into the second period, tapping in a Josh Morrissey feed that found the forward in front of the net. Riley tipped a point shot five-hole to extend the IceCaps lead to three at the 2:23 mark of the third period. Redmond scored a fourth for St. Johns with a wrist shot from the point while Jaffray screened Mannino at 5:21. Jaffray added an empty-net goal with 47.5 seconds left. Mannino made 25 saves for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. St. Johns will play the Texas Stars, who beat the Toronto Marlies in Game 7 Tuesday, for the AHL championship. Cheap NFL Gear Cheap NFL Jerseys Outlet Stitched Jerseys Disocunt Football Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China ' ' '