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World junior championship 3 stars: Slovakia’s Marko Dano, Martin Reway put on scoring display

Three stars from Day 2 of the 2014 world junior championship as chosen by Buzzing The Net contributors:

No. 1 star: Marko Dano, Team Slovakia

Dano (2G-1A, +4) contributed to a flashy offensive show by Slovakia, who took the play to a sleepwalking Germany during a 9-2 win. The Columbus Blue Jackets first-rounder copped player of the game honours, although the 'finish line' of Milan Kolena (2G-1A, +1), Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway (1G-3A, +2) and David Griger (1G-3A, +2) combined for 11 points.

The 18-year-old Dano got away with a penalty on his first goal, the 2-0 tally in the first, as he knocked the feet out from under Germany's Leon Draisaitl along the half-wall, then sped to the net to get a rebound and go top-cheddar over goalie Marvin Cüpper. Dano also cleared space for himself to snipe the 4-0 marker early in the second. At that point, Slovakia had four goals and Germany had two shots on goal.

No. 2 star: Martin Reway, Team Slovakia

Whether Slovakia has the depth and size to hang in with Team USA on Saturday (7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT, TSN/NHL Network USA) remains to be seen, but its high-end forwards were impressive during the 9-2 goring of Germany. Reway helped Slovakia move the puck around like a basketball during its early power plays, where he notched his first two helpers. The Habs pick set up Kolena in the second and finally got a goal for himself in the final frame.

No. 3 star: Saku Maenalanen, Team Finland

The Nashville Predators selection — on Finland, really? — had three points during his team's opening 5-1 win with Norway, clicking on a line with Montreal Canadiens second-rounder Artturi Lehkonen and Chicago Blackhawks first-rounder Teuvo Teravainen.

The Finns had a faltering start they can ill-afford to repeat in the tournament, let alone against Sweden in Saturday night's Day 3 finale. The 6-foot-3 Maenalanen (2G-1A, +3) drew an assist on Lehkonen's icebreaker goal in the late minute in the first period. The youngster from Karpat then used his size to get inside of the Norway defence for two goals in the second period, both of rebounds.

Honourable mention: Joachim Svendsen, Team Norway

The Norwegian keeper, with 43 saves on 48 shots, was the reason that Norway lost by four goals instead of by a double-digit margin. The 19-year-old from Lorenskog IK was not Norway's regular 'tender in December 2012 when it earned promotion to the WJC's top flight, but he battled for the whole 60 minutes at the Malmo Arena. Norway, after nearly 117 scoreless minutes, finally did get on the board when Christoffer Rasch, who had a cup of coffee early this season with Swedish pro team Mora, made a nifty centring feed to Tim Robin Johnsgard for the goal.

Potent notables — Sudbury Wolves forward Dominik Kahun scored both goals for Germany ... Finland goalie Juuse Saros, one of the four Predators picks wearing the blue and white, stopped 28-of-29 saves.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet. Please address any questions, comments or concerns to btnblog@yahoo.ca.