Feb. 12 (UPI) — The American men dominated Latvia during their first game of the preliminary round of Olympic hockey in Milan, Italy, on Thursday, besting the Latvians 5-1 with two goals from Brock Nelson.
Five Americans recorded two-point nights, including Nelson, Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes.
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Connor Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 18 shots in the win. Latvian goaltender and Columbus Blue Jackets’ property Elvis Merzlikins was pulled after letting in four goals on 32 shots in 40 minutes of play, and Arturs Silovs allowed one goal on the six shots he faced in the final frame.
«We got a lot of active D-men back there that can join the rush and attack in waves, and, you know, I thought we were doing that for the whole 60 [minutes] there,» Nelson told reporters following the game.
«Obviously, you know, their [goaltender] was really good and kept it in for a while there, but we knew if we just stuck with our game plan it would eventually break.»
Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring nearly five minutes, 30 seconds in the first period off a pass from his brother.
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At the American blue line, defenseman Zach Werenski passed the puck to Matthew Tkachuk, who was posted up at the boards at Latvia’s blue line. Sucking in Latvian defenseman Kristians Rubins, the Florida Panthers forward opened up a laneway down the middle for Brady Tkachuk, who picked up a chipped pass in the slot and rifled a shot off the left post and in past Merzlikins.
«I got a great stretch pass from Werenski. Just trying to get the line,» Matthew Tkachuk told reporters about the goal after the game. «[Brady Tkachuk] was coming with speed. We kind of caught them on a change there and I just tried to get it over to him, knowing he was coming with some speed and hell of a shot.»
«I don’t know what to say,» he continued. «You can assist on your younger brother’s goal in the Olympics … really, really, really special.»
The early U.S. lead was short-lived, with Latvia pressing and scoring its first goal almost exactly two minutes later.
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In the United States’ end, forward Matt Boldy lost the puck under pressure coming out of the corner, coughing up to Zemgus Girgensons, who took a quick shot that was blocked in front.
With the Americans scrambling to get the puck away from the front of the net with Latvia’s forwards fighting at it at their feet, Renars Krastenbergs shoveled a back-hander past Hellebuyck, who was left looking skyward.
The period ended 1-1 with two U.S. goals called back during the frame, a Quinn Hughes shot for Nelson being ruled offside and a Nelson deflection due to T.J. Miller interfering with Merzlikins.
While Merzlikins was able to keep it close in the first and much of the second, the floodgates under U.S. insistence would open with a little more than nine minutes left in the middle frame, despite big saves made by Merzlikins.
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With the United States controlling play, forward Vincent Trocheck picked up a puck off the glass in the corner, backhanded it to Jack Hughes who came out on the left side of the net. Latvia puck-watching, failed to pick up Nelson, who skated into the slot, receiving a pass from the New Jersey Devils forward before freezing Merzlikins with a move and sliding the puck into a gaping net on his backhand, making it 2-1 for the Americans.
With the man advantage following a cross-checking minor by Latvia’s Roberts Mamcics, Tage Thompson scored a power-play goal to put the U.S. up 3-1.
The Americans were cycling the puck. Eichel, at the left point, sent a pass down to Thompson at the goal line, who took a step out in front of the net and backhanded the puck top shelf over the right shoulder of Merzlikins.
Team USA would score its third goal of the period and fourth of the game in the dying seconds of the second frame.
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At this point, the Americans were well in control of the game. Jack Hughes with Nelson with him were essentially on a two-on-one when they came over Latvia’s blue line. As Nelson pulled two Latvians low into the zone, Jack Hughes dropped the puck to a trailing Quinn Hughes who hit Matthew Tkachuk with it in the high slot.
Matthew Tkachuk one-timed it to Jack Hughes at the left of the Latvian net and waited for Nelson to get open by the hash marks, where he received the puck and fired in a one-timer past Merzlikins.
In the third, with Silovs now between Latvia’s posts, Team USA would score a fifth and final goal.
On the power play, Quinn Hughes, working as quarterback, fired a pass down to Eichel in the corner, who passed the puck to a wide-open Auston Matthews in the high slot, who shot it in past Silovs with more than 17 minutes to go.
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The Americans play next on Saturday against Denmark, which fell 3-1 to Germany 3-1 earlier Thursday.
Their rivals, Team Canada, also won their first game of the tournament on Thursday against Czechia.
Connor McDavid had three assists and Sidney Crosby and Thomas Harley both had two in the 5-0 win. Jordan Bennington backstopped the Canadians with some big saves in the shutout, stopping all 26 shots he faced.
Macklin Celebrini, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, Nathan MacKinnon and Nick Suzuki all scored for Canada.
Lukas Dostal stopped 31 of 36 shots in the loss.
