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Canadian joy: Heatley (left) celebrates

Dany Heatley struck twice as well as netting the winner with just 46.8 seconds remaining as Canada beat the United States 5-4 at the 2008 World Championships.

Heatley's brace condemned the USA to their first defeat of the tournament and ensured that the Canadians finished the preliminary stages at the top of Group B.

Brent Burns, Jonathan Toews and Derek Roy also scored for Canada in a riveting contest at the packed out Halifax Metro Arena.

Zach Parise, Patrick O'Sullivan, Dustin Brown and Jason Pominville scored for the Americans, but Heatley had the last say as he arrived late in the game to smash home a dramatic winner.

Rampant Russia

Earlier in Quebec City, Washington Capitals team-mates Alex Ovechkin and Sergei Fedorov were both on target as Russia defeated Denmark 4-1 to top Group D.

Maxim Afinogenov and Konstantin Gorovikov also scored for Russia and Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers finished the game with two assists.

Kim Staal scored for Denmark as the Scandinavians progressed in third position. The Russians had 43 shots at Danish goaltender Patrick Galbraith while Mikhail Biryukov made 19 saves for the Russians.

Joy for Sweden and Switzerland

In other games, the Czech Republic beat Italy 7-2 to finish the Group D in second place and Latvia blanked Slovenia 3-0 to sneak into the next round.

In Group A, Sweden and Switzerland are guaranteed a place in the next stage after both nations won their opening fixtures.

Elsewhere, in Group C, Finland are safely through the first stage and look set to be joined by Slovakia and Germany after the other team in the group - Norway, are yet to record a win in the competition.