At the World Championship in Denmark:
Dylan Larkin finished even with 4 shots in 21:00 played and Nick Jensen finished even in 14:45 as Team USA defeated Germany 3-0 on Monday, improving to 3-and-0 (with 1 shootout win).
IIHF.com’s John Sanful penned a recap…
Led by Patrick Kane’s goal and two assists, Team USA remains unbeaten with a 3-0 win over Germany. Keith Kinkaid recorded his second straight shutout in three starts for the Americans.
Germany came into the contest winless in two tries. The defending Olympic silver medalists have now lost their first three games of the tournament.
Based on recent history, this game was anything but a given for Team USA. Germany defeated the United States in their last two meetings at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Championships. Last year, Germany defeated Team USA 2-1 in the opening game of the World Championships in Cologne.
“We had some power plays and had some good chances, but then we got one on a 5-on-3, and it’s great to capitalize on those,” Kane said after the game. “And then we got one the next one, too. I think in a tournament like this it’s huge to get the power play going and get some confidence.”
As did USA Hockey…
“Our compete level tonight was tremendous from start to finish,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2018 U.S. Men’s National Team. “Special teams are a significant part of these international tournaments, and that was evident here tonight not only with our power-play goals but also our penalty kill. We’ll enjoy ourselves tomorrow before coming back to rink Wednesday.”
The United States (2-1-0-0/W-OTW-OTL-L) will return to action Thursday (May 10) when it faces Latvia at 4:15 p.m. local time/10:15 a.m. ET. That game, along with all U.S. Men’s World Championship games, will be broadcast live on NHL Network.
Both teams traded scoring chances throughout the opening frame, but neither team was able to gain the lead. The U.S. developed a trio of power-play scoring chances late in the period, but saw each attempt denied by German netminder Niklas Treutle.
In the middle frame, Colin White (Hanover, Mass.) nearly put Team USA on the board at the 7:10 mark with a breakaway attempt but saw his backhanded effort denied by Truetle’s left pad.
The U.S. finally converted three minutes later when Kane converted on the power play. The play started when Cam Atkinson (Riverside, Conn.) dished the puck to Johnny Gaudreau (Salem, N.J.) at the top left circle where he held on to it before finding Kane beneath the right faceoff dot for the one-timer tally.
Derek Ryan (Spokane, Wash.) connected just 1:37 later to put the U.S. up, 2-0. With the U.S. again on the man-advantage, Quinn Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) dished the puck to Kane whose shot was blocked towards the slot where Ryan was able to fire it into the goal for his first tally of the tournament.
And the IIHF posted a highlight clip:
