Canada sports a perfect 4-0 record at the world hockey championship happening in Halifax and Quebec City, although the defending champions have looked somewhat uneven in this tournament, and just escaped with a slim 2-1 win over lightweight Norway on Thursday.

The Canadians will try to put in a more complete effort when they take on Germany in Halifax Saturday (4:30 pm AT) in their second game of the qualification round.

On Thursday, Rick Nash scored on a late power play to lift the Canadians to the victory against an unheralded Norwegian team that had dreams of pulling off a major upset.

"We knew what we were in for," Nash said. "We didn't expect it to be that close, but I think it's a good team-building game for us."

'Goalie is the difference maker'

Goalie Paul Grotnes was outstanding for Norway, making 50 saves to thwart the Canadians for the bulk of the game

"I think there's always reason for concern in our game," Canadian coach Ken Hitchcock said. "The goalie is the difference-maker in our sport. He can win games, he can steal games."

Canada, of course, has seen this before.

Both Norway and Germany gave Canada a scare at last year's tournament in Moscow, but the Canadians went on to win the gold medal.

"We've been in this exact same situation," said captain Shane Doan. "As a country it seems that we have another level of emotions that you can go to and you have to go to it.

"Unfortunately, we allowed those teams to play with us in these games. We've got to find a way to get it going."

Germany should prove to be the perfect remedy for Canada.

Canada has owned Germany at the world championships, winning 37 of 40 games and outscoring the Europeans by a whopping 234-61 margin.

Ottawa Senators and Canadian forward Dany Heatley, who was born in Germany, leads the tournament in scoring with six goals and 10 points in four games.

Heatley has played on Canada's top line with Nash and Ryan Getzlaf, and the trio has worked well together: Nash is fifth in scoring in the tournament (three goals, seven points), while Getzlaf has six points.

"They're not going to have success like they're having every night," said Hitchcock. "It's impossible. ...

"But you're not going to shut it down totally. They're competitive. They're not going to get discouraged because somebody's playing them hard."

With files from the Canadian Press

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