U.S. Falls 4-3 in Overtime to Germany in Men’s Worlds Semifinals

By USA Hockey, 05/27/23, 2:30PM EDT

Team USA will face Latvia in the bronze-medal game Sunday at 8:20 a.m. ET on NHL Network

TAMPERE, Finland – The U.S. Men’s National Team fell to Germany 4-3 in overtime in the semifinals of the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship here tonight at Nokia Arena.

Team USA will face off in the bronze-medal game against Latvia on Sunday (May 28) at 3:20 p.m. local time/8:20 a.m. ET, with the game broadcast live on NHL Network.

“We’re obviously disappointed and full credit to Germany,” said David Quinn, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “We came here to get a medal and we’ll be ready for Latvia tomorrow.”

Team USA raced out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, thanks to Alex Tuch (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and Rocco Grimaldi (Rossmoor, Calif.).

Just over a minute into the opening frame, Grimaldi attacked the middle of the ice and drew in Germany’s defense before getting the puck to Drew O'Connor (Chatham, N.J.), who threaded a feed to Tuch crashing the net. Tuch then put it home to put the U.S. up 1-0.

Germany generated a 3-on-2 opportunity early in the period, but U.S. netminder Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.) grabbed the bouncing puck to preserve the lead.

With 3:56 gone in the first, Team USA took advantage of a Germany turnover in the neutral zone. Tuch quickly tapped the puck up to Grimaldi, who raced in and ripped home a slap shot short side into the top right corner over Mathias Niederberger’s glove for a 2-0 lead.

The U.S. held Germany to one shot on goal through the first 10 minutes of the game, but the opposition found momentum in the second half, making it a 2-2 game heading into the second period.

A power-play goal made it a 2-1 game with at 12:22 into the first, when Frederik Tiffels fired a one-timer from the slot that snuck through the pads of DeSmith.

Then a tape-to-tape passing play from Germany resulted in Maksymilian Szuber knotting the game with 3:57 to go in the first period when he found an opening in the top left corner just inside the post.

GAME PHOTOS

The U.S. had its first power play of the game late in the first, and then went on the penalty kill, killing off a 4-on-3 and 5-on-3 German opportunity, with DeSmith shutting the door both at the end of the first and to start the second period, including a right pad save to keep it a 2-2 game.

Team USA nearly took the lead in the second period when Grimaldi had a chance in tight, but video review found that the puck never crossed the goal line and Niederberger kept it out with his glove.

GAME STATS

GAME PREVIEW

Mikey Eyssimont (Littleton, Colo.) broke the tie at 8:47 into the middle frame with his first goal as a member of the U.S. Men’s National Team. Conor Garland (Scituate, Mass.) stayed on the puck in the neutral zone along the boards to keep the play alive. O’Connor and Eyssimont then had a give-and-go heading into the offensive zone, with Eyssimont poking the puck through Niederberger on his third attempt to put Team USA up 3-2.

The third period included chances at both ends and with 1:34 to go, Germany pulled Niederberger for an extra attacker. After DeSmith shut the door on multiple attempts with traffic in front, Marcel Nobels slid in the loose puck to tie the game and force overtime.

Tiffels scored at 7:32 into 3-on-3 overtime when he raced into the zone putting a shot into the top right corner for the 4-3 win.

DeSmith made 22 saves in the U.S. net.

NOTES: Drew O’Connor was named U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Germany was 1-for-3 … Team USA outshot Germany 33-26, including by a 6-3 margin in the overtime session … Alex Tuch, T.J. Tynan, and Casey DeSmith were named Team USA’s three best players of the tournament.