IIHF World Junior Hockey: Sloboda, Roman score goals as Slovakia beats Latvia 4-2

Team Slovakia's Andrej Hatala celebrates scoring his team's third goal during third period IIHF World Junior Championship action against Team Latvia in Toronto, on Friday, December 30, 2016. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press)

TORONTO -- Marek Sloboda and Milos Roman had a goal and an assist each as Slovakia doubled up Latvia 4-2 on Friday night in preliminary round play at the world junior hockey championship.

Filip Lestan and Andrej Hatala also found the back of the net for Slovakia (1-2-0). Michal Roman tacked on two helpers.

Filips Buncis and Karlis Cukste scored for Latvia (0-4-0). Cukste's goal came 3:40 into the first period on Latvia's first shot of the game.

Latvia will face Finland in the relegation round, which starts on Monday in Montreal. Finland is the tournament's defending champion but hasn't won yet at the event (0-3-0). It's the first time in tournament history that a country has gone from winning gold to playing relegation games the following year.

Slovakia rounds out its Group B round robin on Saturday against Russia (1-2-0).