OTTAWA, Ontario -- Notre Dame forward Danny Nelson scored twice, Western Michigan's Hampton Slukynsky made 25 saves and the defending champion United States defeated Latvia 5-1 on Saturday in the world junior hockey championship.

The U.S. improved to 2-0 in Group A play, while Latvia dropped to 1-1 a day after stunning Canada with a 3-2 victory in a shootout.

"We were ready right from the drop of the puck," Team USA forward James Hagens told iihf.com after the win. "They're a great hockey team. Anyone can win on any given day. We came in here ready to give it our all. We saw the game against Canada. They never stopped coming. But we all stuck together."

Boston College's Ryan Leonard, Denver's Zeev Buium and Minnesota Duluth's Max Plante also scored for the Americans. They will be back in action Sunday at Canadian Tire Centre against Finland then will close group play Tuesday night against Canada.

"You've got to take it one game at a time, just like we did last year," Leonard told the championship's website, assessing his team's chances at a repeat. "So, hopefully, we'll get the same result. But you can't really look too far ahead."

Davids Livsics scored for Latvia. Linards Feldbergs stopped 36 shots after making 55 saves against Canada and stopping all eight attempts in the shootout.

"We're not going to look for an excuse," Latvia coach Artis Abols said on the tournament's official website. "We were not able to find a way to win. We had the chances. We started slowly. After last night's game, OK, we knew the first period would be tough. But the first goal was a gift. In the second, we had good energy, had two breakaways. We weren't able to keep them on the boards and protect the middle."

In the only other game of the day, Czechia beat Kazakhstan 14-2 at TD Place. Czechia and Sweden are both 2-0 in Group B. Matej Mastalirsky, Vojtech Hradec and Jakub Stancl had hat tricks for Czechia, with Hradec and Stancl also each assisting on two goals.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.