Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) registered three points (1-2) in a record-breaking performance to lead the U.S. Men's National Team past Great Britain, 6-3, in its fourth game of the 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation Men's World Championship.
“What a crowd and a really fun environment to be a part of today,” said Jeff Blashill, head coach of the 2019 U.S. Men’s National Team and also the bench boss of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings. “I thought Great Britain played extremely hard. We certainly need to be better, but we picked up three important points."
With his three-point performance, Kane is now the all-time U.S. career points leader in men's world championship play with 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points in 21 games played. He surpasses Mark Johnson, who tallied 33 points (15g, 18a) in 62 outings in men's world championship play.
The U.S. Men's National Team (2-1-0-1/W-OTW-OTL-L) will return to preliminary-round action on Saturday (May 18) when it takes on Denmark. Faceoff at Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, is set for 12:15 p.m. local time (6:15 a.m. ET). That game, and every U.S. game, will be broadcast live in the U.S. on NHL Network.
Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) nearly opened the scoring right from the opening faceoff when he corraled the puck in the offensive zone and cut across the crease for a chance that was deflected away from goal.
Just past the midway point of the frame, a U.S. powerplay opportunity ended with James van Riemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.) giving the U.S. a 1-0 lead. With just :34 left on the man-advantage, Kane fired a slapshot off the glove of Great Britain's goaltender Ben Bowns that saw the puck fall in the crease where van Riemsdyk was able to bat it into goal for the game's opening goal.
Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills, Mich.) nearly doubled the U.S. lead with 5:23 to play in the frame but his chance from the left side of goal was smothered by Bowns.
Less than a minute later, Great Britain evened the score, 1-1, when Mike Hammond was able to lift his own rebound over the shoulder of an outstretched Thatcher Demko (San Diego, Calif.).
Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) almost regained the U.S. lead in the closing minutes of the frame when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot and rang a shot of the post.
The middle stanza opened with the U.S. generating a number of scoring chances before it looked as though they scored at the seven-minute mark. off a net-front deflection by Larkin. After video review, however, it was deemed that Larkin's deflection in front of the net was above the crossbar and therefore waved off.
With the U.S. still pressing, Clayton Keller (St. Louis, Mo.) rewarded the team's efforts just two minutes later with a breakaway tally. The play started in the neutral zone with Quinn Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) surveying the ice before sending a sharp pass towards the offensive blue line for Keller to slip between Great Britain's defenders and tuck the puck past Bowns for a 2-1 U.S. advantage.
Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass.) doubled the U.S. lead just 2:13 later by converting on a nice passing play from Jack Eichel (North Chelmsford, Mass.) and Ryan Suter (Madison, Wis.). Suter created the play by holding the puck at the blue line and dishing it down low to Eichel who carried the puck below the goal line before feeding Kreider at the top of the crease for a 3-1 U.S. advantage.
With 2:06 to play in the frame, DeBrincat made it 4-1 for Team USA with his fourth goal of the tournament. Kane initiated the goal from behind Great Britain's net by centering the puck to the top of the crease where an initial attempt by Derek Ryan (Spokane, Wash.) ended with him tipping the puck back to DeBrincat for a one-timer goal.
In the final seconds of the period, Great Britain's Brett Perlini found a loose puck in the slot and beat Demko to cut the U.S. lead to 4-2 entering the second intermission.
The third stanza opened with Kane scoring one minute into play when a net-front scrum ended with Kane sliding the puck beneath a pair of defenders to regain a three-goal U.S. lead.
Ryan then scored his first goal of the tournament at the 9:10 mark off assists from Luke Glendening (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Noah Hanifin (Norwood, Mass.) to make it 6-2 in favor of the U.S.
Four minutes later, Demko stood tall on a 2-on-1 Great Britain rush by punching the puck out of harm's way with his blocker.
With 3:32 to play in regulation, Ben Davies converted for Great Britain to account for the 6-3 final.
Demko finished with 20 saves for his second tournament win.
NOTES: Patrick Kane was named the U.S. Player of the Game ... The U.S. outshot Great Britain, 65-26, and went 2-for-5 on the powerplay. For complete statistics, click here ... The U.S. registered 26 shots in the second period, establishing a new U.S. tournament record for most shots in a single period. The 65 shots on goal registered by Team USA was also a single-game U.S. record in the men's world championship ... Kane, the new U.S. record-holder for most career points in men's world championship play, is closely followed by two current teammates in Dylan Larkin (41 GP, 8-24--32) and Johnny Gaudreau (30 GP, 10-21--31), who sit third and fourth, respectively on the all-time list ... 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.
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 |