INNSBRUCK, Austria (CP) - The first world championship game for Rick Nash was one to remember.
The 20-year-old from Brampton, Ont., scored three goals and had an assist as two-time defending champion Canada held off hard-working Latvia for a 6-4 victory Saturday in their opening game at the world hockey championship.
"It's a good start," said Nash. "It's kind of hard not to get opportunities when you play with guys like Joe Thornton and Simon Gagne.
"It's just a matter of finishing your opportunities."
Thornton, Brendan Morrison and Patrick Marleau also scored for Canada, which went 4-for-4 on the power play to build a 5-2 lead, but then had to hold off a spirited Latvian comeback in the third period.
Aleksandrs Semjonovs, Girts Ankipans, Janis Sprunkts and Karlis Skrastins replied for Latvia, which had a huge throng of maroon and white-clad fans among the announced crowd of 5,344 at the 7,140-seat Olympiahalle.
Nash and Thornton played together with Davos in the Swiss league this season and the chemistry between them is evident, with Thornton working the corners and the boards to get the puck to Nash.
"He's a pretty good player, eh?" said Thornton. "Obviously I know his tendencies from playing with him this year.
"I know where he's going to be. He's just great in front of the net. He just has a knack of scoring big goals and he's going to score some big goals in this tournament."
Nash, the first overall draft pick by Columbus in 2002, shared the Rocket Richard Trophy in 2003-04 as NHL scoring leader with Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Iginla.
"They're a great line," said coach Marc Habscheid. "Rick got three world-class goals.
"He's a gifted young man."
The Latvian chanting and drum-beating reached deafening levels in the third period as Sprunkts scored on a power play at 6:16 and Skrastins scored at 9:00 to close the gap to one goal.
But Nash's third of the game at 14:17 clinched the win in a game in which Canada had sloppy moments in its own zone and got an ordinary effort from goaltender Martin Brodeur. Canada outshot Latvia 41-24.
"It was a little closer than one would have thought but we have to be happy to have scored six goals and our speciality teams were really good," said Brodeur.
"We'll be better, definitely. I saw some good things, but obviously a 6-4 win over the Latvians, nobody in Canada will be happy about that."
It was almost like a win for Latvia, ranked ninth in the world. Goaltender Arturs Irbe replaced shell-shocked starter Edgars Masalskis at 16:50 of the second period after Nash made it 5-2.
"We weren't expecting to make it 5-4, usually scoring has been lacking," said Irbe. "I think it was a good effort and a little surprising, but the boys played well."
They also had their fans, considered by some the loudest and most loyal in Europe, as extra incentive.
"They're the best and you have to take into account that they don't have the same GDP (standard of living) as other countries," Irbe said. "But they save up and go to other countries on their vacations for the worlds."
There was only a sprinkling of Canadian flags in the rink and defenceman Sheldon Souray said it made a difference.
"We made it hard on ourselves a bit, but you have to take your hat off to the Latvian fans," he said.
"They were loud and enthusiastic and in the game. Sometimes that makes a difference. Hopefully, after the tournament, they get more respect because they made us work. They're a good team."
The Latvians, who lost 3-1 to Canada in an exhibition game on Monday in Riga, kept pace with Canada early by playing a tight defensive game, stringing four men across their blue-line to stop Canadian rushes.
And they took advantage of defensive lapses after Canada's first two goals to tie the game twice.
Morrison opened the scoring 2:55 into the game on a power play when he moved in from the left point to beat Masalskis to the top corner.
Only 34 seconds later, a turnover in Canada's zone let Aleksandrs Nizivijs slide a pass across the crease for Semjonovs to bang into an open side.
Nash caused the turnover that let Simon Gagne set up Thornton for a power-play goal 7:49 into the second frame.
But Canada was caught napping again as Arkipans finished a three-way passing play with a shot on which Brodeur appeared to make a spectacular glove save at 10:55. A video review found that Brodeur's glove was inside the net when he made the save and the goal was counted.
"Looking at it, it's nearly impossible for them to say it was in," said Brodeur.
"When I caught the puck, it hit the post, so I'm sure it wasn't in. The referee told me: `I'm an old goalie so I know how you feel.' But he went upstairs and said for sure it was in."
Nash converted a sweet diagonal pass from Ed Jovanovski on a power play at 14:00 and Marleau banked one in from the side of the net with the man advantage at 15:32.
After Nash took a two-line pass and crashed the net with the puck to score at 16:50, Masalskis, who had faced 29 shots, came out and Irbe went in. "We tried to keep the pressure on and not make it as exciting as it was," said Souray. "Some of the decisions we made weren't what we wanted, but as the tournament goes on and the competition gets stiffer, obviously we have to play better than that.
"But we got the win and did some good things. Our power play was good. We scored some goals. Those are things to build on."
Canada's next game of the round robin portion of the 16-team tournament is Tuesday against lowly Slovenia. They face the United States on Thursday.
Canada opened last year's world championship with a 2-2 draw with Austria, but went on to win gold.