VANCOUVER, British Columbia — This U.S. win already was secured by the time Michael Phelps left his rinkside seat. Then it turned into a rout.

A big surge in the final minutes helped the American men's hockey team complete a 6-1 win over outmatched Norway Thursday, but now the club will dive into the deep end of the pool against heavily favored Canada Sunday with a bye into the quarterfinals on the line.

With Phelps, the U.S. Olympic swimming star watching from four rows off center ice, the Americans improved to 2-0 in these games.

Nursing a two-goal lead for much of the final two periods, the Americans broke it open when defenseman Brian Rafalski scored twice in the final three minutes.

"We've got some work to do still, there's no question about that," U.S. captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "We're making far too many mistakes we can't be making against Canada."

Phil Kessel and Chris Drury had first-period goals, Patrick Kane stretched the lead to 3-0 in the second, and Ryan Malone added his second of the tournament to back seldom-tested goalie Ryan Miller.

The Americans held a 39-11 edge in shots over Norway, which has been outscored 14-1 in two games.

Rafalski netted a power-play goal with 3 minutes remaining and then finished the late outburst in the final minute. The Americans will have a day off today.

"Come the Canada game, we've got to play playoff-type hockey — dump the puck in," Malone said. "It's not rocket science."

With only a 3-1 victory Tuesday over Switzerland, the U.S. was facing tiebreaker danger should it fall to Canada. Four teams clinch spots in the quarterfinals, while the other eight countries will play for the other four spots. Goal differential is a key tiebreaker, so lopsided wins are beneficial.

"We're definitely confident," forward Zach Parise said. "There's still room for improvement. I don't think we've played near our best hockey."

The Americans held a 15-2 shots advantage through the first period and 23-9 after 40 minutes. But Miller was beaten for a short-handed goal by Marius Holtet in the second.

That gave the Norwegians, seeded 11th in the 12-team tournament, something to celebrate after an 8-0 loss in their opener to Canada Tuesday.

"We were in it for 55 minutes," Holtet said. "They were controlling the game, but we were hanging in there and probably should have scored on a couple more of our other chances."

Chants of "USA USA" broke out less than 20 seconds in and before the Americans recorded their first shot. Unlike Wednesday, when ABBA music was played during stoppages of Sweden's game against Germany, U.S. artists — Bruce Springsteen, John Denver, Bon Jovi — were on the playlist.

Not to be outdone, many fans decked out in red — Norway and Canada varieties — yelled support for the decided underdogs with loud chants of "Let's Go Norway!"

"Ha!" Miller said with a laugh. "There had to be a few Canadians in there. That's fine. The whole house will be against us on Sunday."

Slovakia 2, Russia 1

Pavol Demitra scored on Slovakia's seventh attempt in a shootout and Jaroslav Halak made some big saves, lifting the Slovaks to victory.

Two-time NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin scored on one of three chances in the shootout for the Russians.

Marian Hossa scored midway through the third period to pull the Slovaks into a tie. Russia's Alex Morozov had a goal early in the second period.

Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 31 shots through the overtime for the Russians, and Halak had 36 saves entering the shootout.

Slovakia had a 5-on-3 power play for more than a minute early in the third but couldn't take advantage, and the Russians failed to score with an extra skater midway through the period.

Both teams looked tired in the overtime, leading to few scoring chances.

Slovakia — the first team forced to play on back-to-back nights — desperately needed the win after losing to the rival Czechs 3-1.

Russia routed Latvia 8-2 Tuesday night.

Evgeni Malkin, finally getting his first attempt in the shootout, tried to get fancy with the puck and ended up hitting the side of the net.