PROVO, Utah ? Joe Sakic scored midway through the second period as Canada struggled to a 3-2 victory over Germany in Olympic hockey Sunday night.
Paul Kariya and Adam Foote scored power-play goals for Canada (1-1), which got its second inconsistent, troubling performance from a star-laden roster expected to be a favorite for gold.
Canada lost 5-2 to Sweden on Friday night, and it showed equal parts brilliance and incompetence while barely surviving a meeting with Germany, a qualifier with just two NHL players. At times, the Canadians dominated play; at others, including the game's frantic final minutes when Germany scored twice, they were completely on their heels.
After Sakic slipped a shot past goalie Marc Seliger for the game's first goal, the Canadians added two more goals in the next 10 minutes and began to resemble the team many expect to end their nation's 50-year gold medal drought.
But Canada began and ended the game playing slowly and tentatively. In between, the Canadians were firmly in charge, outshooting Germany 37-20 despite the absence of captain Mario Lemieux, who took the night off to rest his sore hip.
Canada's victory sets up a key match against the Czech Republic on Monday. The winner likely will face Finland in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, while the loser likely will get the daunting task of meeting Russia.
Canada's Olympic trip began with a dispiriting loss to Sweden in which the Canadians' NHL-style game couldn't cope with the Swedes' "torpedo" offensive system on the wider international ice. The Germans have no such innovations, relying on defense and Seliger, but they still gave the vaunted Canadians all they could handle.
Coach Pat Quinn shook things up against Germany. He started Martin Brodeur in goal in place of Curtis Joseph, shuffled all four Canadian lines and added seventh defenseman Ed Jovanovski to the mix.
With Wayne Gretzky, the architect of the Canadian team, watching pensively from the press box, Canada played a dismal first period, never threatening to beat Seliger or the Germans defense.
Things changed nearly halfway through the second period when Canada's persistent forechecking finally produced results. Simon Gagne grabbed a loose puck and found Sakic all alone in front of Seliger for an easy goal.
The Canadians thought they could breathe easily after German defenseman Daniel Kunce got a game misconduct for dangerously boarding Ryan Smyth late in the second period.
On the ensuing five-minute power play, Kariya slammed home a rebound; Foote then flipped a long wrist shot past Seliger, who was completely screened, just as the penalty ended.
But Seliger, the star of the preliminary round with three victories, made several outstanding saves to keep Germany in it ? and early in the third period, Germany again took over the flow of play.
Brodeur's shutout bid ended midway through the third period when Andreas Loth slipped the puck underneath him on the Germans' first shot in nearly 15 minutes. With 6:09 to play, Jochen Hecht ricocheted a shot off Brodeur's goal stick and into the top corner of the net.