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U.S. Men Fall to Slovakia, 4-1, in First Game of Men's Worlds

By USAHockey.com, 05/10/19, 2:30PM EDT

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U.S. returns to action Sunday (May 12) against France.

Corey Schneider (Marblehead, Mass.) recorded 32 saves and Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills, Mich.) scored but the U.S. fell to host Slovakia, 4-1, in its first game of the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship.

“They deserved to win the hockey game and credit to them,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “We need to get to the net more and be harder to play against and we’ll work on that tomorrow in practice. At the end of the day, it’s the first game of the tournament and we’ll learn from this game and move forward.”

Highlights

The U.S. Men's National Team (0-0-0-1/W-OTW-OTL-L) returns to action Sunday (May 12) when it takes on France. Puck drop is set for 12:15pm local time (6:15am ET) at Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia. That game, and every U.S. game, will be broadcast live in the U.S. on NHL Network. 

The game opened with a U.S. scoring chance off an odd-man rush just 20 seconds into play. The play started with Johnny Gaudreau (Salem, N.J.) collecting the puck and hustling into the offensive zone before sending a cross-ice feed to DeBrincat for a redirection that sailed just wide of the net.

Slovakia opened the scoring off the stick of Matus Sukel 4:02 into play. After U.S. goaltender Schneider made an initial close-range save, Slovakia’s Marian Studenic was able to scoop up the rebound, wrap around the net and find Sukel in the slot for a 1-0 Slovakia lead.

Just past the midway point of the frame, Schneider stood tall with a point-blank save off a shot by Tomas Tatar to keep it a one-goal game.

Less than a minute later, DeBrincat knotted the score, 1-1, on the powerplay with 7:55 to play in the frame. Just over a minute into the man-advantage, Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.) dished the puck over to the right faceoff dot where captain Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) lifted a pass over a Slovakian defender’s stick for DeBrincat to one-time a shot into the top left corner.

With four minutes remaining in the first frame, Clayton Keller (St. Louis, Mo.) had the chance at a wide-open net but Slovakia goaltender Patrik Rybar stretched wide to deny Keller’s attempt. Slovakia answered with a chance of its own, but Schneider recorded crucial back-to-back saves, including one that rang off his helmet, to preserve the 1-1 score going into the first intermission.

The first five minutes of the middle stanza featured a pair of Slovakia goals just three minutes apart for a 3-1 advantage. Slovakia’s first goal came 1:52 into the frame when Erik Cernak beat Schneider with a slapshot from the blue line. Tatar then added another goal three minutes later when his shot near the right post snuck under the glove arm of Schneider. 

Midway through the frame, Schneider turned aside a breakaway chance and then followed up with another kick save to keep the U.S. within two. 

With the U.S. searching for offense, Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) generated perhaps the team’s best chance late in the frame after he brought the puck in from the far blue for a shot on target, but saw his chance turned away by Rybar as the U.S. entered the second intermission trailing Slovakia by a 3-1 margin.

Like the first period, the final frame opened with a flurry of U.S. chances. The first came off the stick of Eichel before another attempt by Gaudreau was also denied. 

With 6:59 to play in regulation, a U.S. powerplay generated chances at both ends of the ice as both teams searched for the game's next goal.

Slovakia's Michal Kristoff tallied at the 15:54 mark when a shot from the slot snuck past a screened Schneider to account for the 4-1 final.

NOTES: Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game ... The U.S. was outshot, 26-36, went 1-for-2 on the powerplay and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill. For complete game statistics, click here ... The U.S. has medaled in three of the last six IIHF Men’s World Championships, its best medal stretch since the 1950s ... Captain Patrick Kane is the reigning MVP of the world championship, having earned the honor last year after leading the tournament in points with 8-12--20 … For complete coverage of the U.S. Men’s National Team, visit teamusa.usahockey.com/2019mensworlds … The official IIHF home of the 2019 IIHF Men’s World Championship is 2019.IIHFWorlds.com.

Postgame Comments

Ryan Suter

Photos


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

2019 U.S. Roster

Sights & Sounds

IIHF Tournament Website

U.S. Men's Worlds History


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