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RIGA, Latvia -- Jaroslav Balastik's fluke goal snapped a third-period tie and gave the unbeaten Czech Republic a 6-4 win over previously perfect Canada on Sunday at the World Hockey Championship.

Both teams had already clinched quarterfinal spots from Group E along with Finland and the United States. That didn't soften the blow for the Canadians (3-1).

"We're disappointed, no question," coach Marc Habscheid said. "We started out very poorly. In the second and third periods we played more determined and with that good old Canadian passion."

Olympic champion Sweden also lost for the first time, falling 5-2 to Slovakia, which needed the win to keep its chances alive for a quarterfinal spot from Group F.

Every team has one game left.

The Czechs (2-0-2) led 3-1 in the first period, but Canada came back to tie it twice -- 3-3 and 4-4.

Sidney Crosby, the NHL rookie of the year finalist from the Pittsburgh Penguins, scored Canada's final goal at 1:01 into the third to get Canada even again. Crosby beat goalie Milan Hnilicka with a backhander off his own rebound for his tournament-high sixth goal.

Five minutes later, Balastik put the Czechs ahead for good with a slap shot that found its way in from a near-impossible angle.

Alex Auld of the Vancouver Canucks gave up another goal at 13:39 as Czech forward Martin Erat of Nashville beat the Canadian goalie with a one-timer off David Vyborny's pass after a quick 2-on-1 break.

"We started very good when we scored two early goals and fought well when they came back in the last two periods," Czech coach Alois Hadamczik said.

Atlanta Thrashers forward Marian Hossa, who missed Slovakia's last two games with a knee injury, set the tone against Sweden with a goal just 1:45 into the game. Martin Cibak, Rene Vydareny, Marcel Hossa and Andrej Kollar also scored for Slovakia (1-2-1), which never trailed.

"Marian is the best player on our team and we need him very much and it's unbelievable ... that he gets hurt like that and came back to play," Cibak said. "That's a big help for us, and mentally and physically we were ready and I think we played better hockey than Sweden."

Magnus Johansson and Andreas Karlsson scored second-period goals for Sweden (2-1-1), which played listlessly at times, having already qualified for the quarterfinals.

"They got some big goals at the right time and we never really got a chance to catch up to them," Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson said. "I'm not really happy with the way we played, but we met a good team and they played really well."

Sweden will play Russia on Monday, and Slovakia will face Ukraine on Tuesday in its last game.

Earlier, Russia beat Switzerland 6-3 and Finland maintained its unbeaten record with a 3-0 win over Norway.

Danis Zaripov, Denis Arkhipov, Dmitri Bykov, Ilya Nikulin, Nikolai Kulemin and Evgeni Malkin scored for Russia, which ran its winning streak to five games to remain atop its qualifying group.

Thierry Paterlini, Beat Forster and Goran Bezina scored for Switzerland (1-1-2).

Russia plays Sweden in their last Group F game on Monday. Russia is on top of the group with eight points and has clinched first place. Sweden has five, Belarus and Switzerland four each, and Slovakia has three.

Washington Capitals rookie forward Alexander Ovechkin said the teams played evenly through two periods, but that Russia's defense in the third made the difference.

"It was a good win for our team," Ovechkin said. "In the second period, we didn't play that well when they scored two goals. But in the third, we played more defensively and tried to attack. When we scored the third goal, we felt more comfortable and then everyone was feeling that we could win the game."

Finland got goals from Jukka Hentonen, Jussi Jokinen and Esa Pirnes, and goalie Fredrik Norrena saved 19 shots to earn player of the game honors.

Finland, with seven points in its qualifying group, plays Canada on Monday with first place in Group E at stake. Canada and the Czech Republic both have six points. The United States has four.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press