It wasn't as easy as the first game, but Team Canada improved to 2-0 at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship.

After opening the tournament with a lopsided win over Denmark, Canada fought off Switzerland for a 3-2 win in the second round-robin game of the tournament.

"Being up two games is nice, I know our team is a work in progress, it always is at this time during the tournament, so we can play better in certain areas, but we're happy with where we're at and where we're headed," said Canadian head coach Tim Hunter, who is also the head coach of the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Team Canada is aiming to get stronger every game leading into their New Year's Eve showdown with Russia to end the round robin.

Hunter said they've received a good taste of different game situations over the first two games in the tournament, as well as their three pre-tournament games.

"These guys are living those environments for the first time as a team in this tournament, tight game, goalie out, penalties," he said. "Not a lot of offence from the Swiss, 17 or 18 shots, but still a tight game with some penalties late that made it interesting. The bottom line is we won the game, we were able to survive a tight situation and we’ll learn from it."

Canada struck quickly against Switzerland with Cody Glass scoring just 36 seconds into the game, but the score stayed that way until only 46 seconds into the second, when Philipp Kurashev scored for the Swiss to tie the game.

Hamilton Bulldogs forward MacKenzie Entwistle restored the lead for Canada 5:09 later and then Acadie-Bathurst Titan defenceman Noah Dobson added to Canada's lead with 12:08 to go in the second.

Kurashev's second of the game pulled Switzerland within one with 1:50 to play in regulation, but they couldn't get any closer as Prince Albert Raiders goalie Ian Scott made 13 saves for the win.

Canada outshot Switzerland 32-15 overall in the game.

Warriors captain Josh Brook has one assist through two games for Canada. Hunter said Brook is finding his footing against the best players in the world.

"Josh has been really steady, he's probably played his best hockey here, he can play better. He's heading in the right direction," said Hunter. "It's been a bit of an adjustment for him playing on the left side, but I'm happy with where he's fitted in and how he's doing."

The road gets tougher as the tournament goes on for Canada as they will face the Czech Republic on Saturday and then finish against the Russians on Monday.

Hunter said that they will continue to look for ways to improve their game as they move forward in the tournament.

"We've played a lot of parts of games with the speed, I felt our best section of any game was the six minutes in the second period against the Finns (during the pre-tournament play), there were no whistles, we had everybody over the boards, we used all the defencemen, we had five scoring chances and that's the identity that we're trying to play to," said Hunter.

"Every game, we've had lots of momentum with our speed, lots of momentum with puck possession and it's just a matter of learning to play it consistently and not take our foot off the gas."

Neither goalie has been truly tested through two games for Canada, but Hunter said they will go with Michael DiPietro, who made 12 saves for the shutout against Denmark, in goal against the Czechs.

"They've been outstanding, it's tough to play a game when there's not a lot of shots," said Hunter. "For Mikey, 12 shots and 14 goals for, so it's a strange environment, he was real good in the pre-comp games, we like his body of work and Ian has been every bit as good, so it's been a nice situation."

Team Canada faces the Czech Republic at 7 p.m. on Saturday.