TORONTO — Brad Marchand and Steven Stamkos scored in the first period and Canada cruised to a 3-1 win over Team Europe in Game 1 of the World Cup of Hockey finals on Tuesday night.

Game 2 in the best-of-three series is Thursday night.

Patrice Bergeron’s goal midway through the third period created a two-goal cushion.

Marchand and Bergeron, Bruins teammates, have been playing on a line with Sidney Crosby, and the trio rank among the top three in World Cup scoring.

Carey Price finished with 32 saves for the Canadians, who have won two straight Olympic gold medals and 15 consecutive best-on-best hockey games since losing to the U.S. at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Slovakia’s Tomas Tatar scored 7 minutes into the second period to get Europe within one.

Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots for the unique team made up of eight European nations outside of the continent’s traditional powers.

The Canadians were playing at home, but didn’t seem to get much of an emotional boost in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ arena, where there were a lot of empty seats and suites.

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association combined to revive the event, which hasn’t been held since 2004, with a twist. They created Team Europe and Team North America, a squad made up of players 23 and younger from the U.S. and Canada.