Canada wins Game 1 of World Cup final despite listless effort against Europe

Canada has drawn first blood in the World Cup of Hockey final, thanks in large part to the continued dominance of the host nation's top line.

On a night where Canada looked rather sluggish for long portions of play, and with Europe putting forth an effort worthy of an upset, the unit of Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, and Brad Marchand combined for two of the team's three goals, providing enough offense to pull off the 3-1 win.

Europe was presented with a chance to open the scoring when Marchand took a penalty 21 seconds into the game. Unable to score on the man advantage, the Europeans watched as Bergeron set up Marchand only 12 seconds after his departure from the penalty box.

Later in the opening frame, Steven Stamkos scored his first goal of the tournament to give Canada a 2-0 lead.

It was Europe, however, that held a 13-9 shot advantage after 20 minutes.

The Europeans were deservedly rewarded for their hard work with a goal from Tomas Tatar - his third in two games - at the seven-minute mark of the second period.

Playing with a one-goal lead, Canada took the shot advantage back after 40 minutes of play (26-24), but Europe continued to generate chances, highlighted by a rare shorthanded breakaway opportunity by defenseman Andrej Sekera late in the second period.

With Europe looking for the tying marker in the third, Canada's top line got the job done again - this time Bergeron beat Jaroslav Halak with a wrist shot off a feed from Crosby.

Canada finished the game with the advantage in shots (38-33) and possession, but it clearly wasn't the dominant performance expected from the heavy favorites.

Canada now has a chance to hoist the World Cup trophy with a win in Game 2 on Thursday, but the Europeans at least proved they can hang in and perhaps can push the final to the limit, and earn a deciding third game.