Canada recorded their third victory in three matches at the Ice Hockey World Championship - but Slovakia made them work hard ©Getty Images

Canada and the United States both remained unbeaten at the Ice Hockey World Championship, but each were made to work hard for their third victories in three matches at the tournament being co-hosted by Finland and Latvia.

The US had to fight hard to overcome Germany 3-2 in Group A at the Nokia Arena in Tampere, while Canada had to dig even deeper in their Group B match to prevail against Slovakia 2-1 in a shootout at Arena Riga.

Matt Coronato, Sean Farrell and Ronnie Attard each scored for the Americans and T.J. Tynan had two assists as goaltender Casey DeSmith made 30 saves in front of a crowd of 8,003.

Coronato scored the winner on a power play for the young US team with just over five minutes to go to complete a rally in the final period following Farrell’s 46th minute equaliser.

Attard had put the Americans in front in the 26th minute before Germany took a 2-1 lead thanks to goals from Samuel Soramies and Justin Schutz in the 31st and 40th minutes.

"That's a really exciting win for the team," said American goalie Casey DeSmith.

"It’s hard to come from behind, especially against a good team like Germany.

“It showed a lot of character from our group."

Matt Coronato, second left, scored the winning goal for the United States as they came from behind to beat Germany 3-2 in Tampere ©Getty Images
Matt Coronato, second left, scored the winning goal for the United States as they came from behind to beat Germany 3-2 in Tampere ©Getty Images

Jack Quinn scored the winner for Canada in the eighth round of the shootout with a shot high into the roof of the net in front of 4,640 fans.

Earlier, Jake Neighbours put the Canadians ahead 1-0, shooting in-between the pads of goaltender Samuel Hlavaj.

Peter Cehlárik tapped in the equaliser from close range in the opening period, and the game remained scoreless until overtime.

"It was a good game," Quinn said.

“We know we’re going to have some adversity, so you just try to stay positive and keep going."

Also in Group A, Sweden beat Finland 2-1 at the Nokia Arena before a crowd of 12,039 in a shootout to hand the defending champions a second defeat in three games and leave the hosts in danger of failing to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Lucas Raymond was the hero, scoring the winning goal in the shootout.

"It was a tight game," the Detroit Red Wings winger said.

"Both teams played very well. 

"It was nice to get the win."

Co-hosts Latvia won their first match of the tournament with an overtime 4-3 victory over the previously unbeaten Czech Republic ©Getty Images
Co-hosts Latvia won their first match of the tournament with an overtime 4-3 victory over the previously unbeaten Czech Republic ©Getty Images

In Group B, co-hosts Latvia recorded their first victory of the tournament when they ended the Czech Republic’s unbeaten start.

Oskars Batna was the hero, scoring on a rebound with 44 seconds left in overtime to give Latvia a 4-3 victory and send the 7,780 crowd at the Riga Arena wild.

“No words,” Batna said.

“You can hear what happened - the building exploded!

“Obviously, it’s an amazing feeling.”

The tournament is due to continue tomorrow in Group A with Denmark playing Austria and France versus Hungary in Tampere.

In Group B, Slovenia is scheduled to take on Norway and Switzerland meet Kazakhstan in Riga.