Gameday: U.S. Opens Men's Worlds Against Host Slovakia

Team USA begins play in the 83rd IIHF Men’s World Hockey Championship here tonight in Kosice, Slovakia, at Steel Arena and the atmosphere will be electric with the U.S. facing the host nation before a capacity crowd.

Opening faceoff is set for 8:15 p.m. local time (2:15 p.m. ET) and the game will be televised live on NHL Network.

The U.S. and Slovakia have met 10 previous times in the world championship. Team USA has won six of those contests, including the last meeting by a 6-1 count at the 2017 world championship in Cologne, Germany.

The IIHF world championship includes 16 teams, with two eight-team groups. The U.S. is in Group A along with Canada, Finland, Germany, Slovakia, Denmark, France and Great Britain.

Group B, which is being staged in Bratislava, Slovakia, includes Sweden, Russia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Norway, Latvia, Austria and Italy.

The preliminary round is round-robin in each group for a total of seven total preliminary round games for each team. The top four finishers in each group play in the quarterfinals in a cross-over fashion (1A-4B, 2A-3B, 1B-4A, 2B-3A).

Team USA is coming off a bronze-medal finish in last year’s world championship and has medaled in three of the last six events, its best medal stretch in the world championship since the early 1950s.

Patrick Kane, the Chicago Blackhawks superstar and one of the best players in the world, is back for a second straight year as captain of Team USA, while Ryan Suter of the Minnesota Wild, who is playing in his 13 event on the international stage for the U.S. and Dylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings, who is competing in his fifth straight world championship, are serving as alternate captains. Kane led the world championship in points a year ago and became the first-ever U.S. player to be named MVP of the world championship.

Team USA is coached by Jeff Blashill. The head coach of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings is coaching the U.S. entry in the world championship for the third straight year. Blashill has guided the U.S. to 14 wins in 18 total games the past two years.

Game Notes vs. Slovakia

Projected Lines vs. Slovakia

U.S. Game Schedule

Date	Opponent/Round	Time (Local/ET)/Result	Location	Television	U.S. Player of the Game
Tues., May 7	Germany Pre-Tournament	W, 5-2	SAP Arena Mannheim, Germany	Live Stream	Johnny Gaudreau
Fri., May 10	Slovakia Preliminary	L, 1-4	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Jack Eichel
Sun., May 12	France Preliminary	W, 7-1	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Alex DeBrincat
Mon., May 13	Finland Preliminary	OTW, 3-2	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Brady Skjei
Wed., May 15	Great Britain Preliminary	W, 6-3	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Patrick Kane
Sat., May 18	Denmark Preliminary	W, 7-1	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Dylan Larkin
Sun., May 19	Germany Preliminary	W, 3-1	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Alec Martinez
Tues., May 21	Canada Preliminary	L, 0-3	Steel Arena Kosice, Slovakia	NHL Network	Cory Schneider
Thurs., May 23	Russia Quarterfinal	L, 3-4	Ondrej Nepela Arena Bratislava, Slovakia	NHL Network	Jack Hughes