BERN, Switzerland – Dustin Brown (Ithaca, N.Y./L.A. Kings) scored a goal and added two assists to help the U.S. Men's National Team to a 6-1 victory over Austria here today in the second preliminary-round game for both teams at the 73rd annual International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship.

With the victory, the U.S. has secured a spot in the qualification round and will finish no lower than second in Group C. The U.S. will play its final game of the preliminary round Wednesday (April 29) against Sweden at 2:15 p.m. ET with first place in Group C at stake.

"We didn't capitalize on some of our chances through the first half of the game, but we showed a killer instinct in the third period and picked up an important win," said Ron Wilson, head coach of Team USA.

Brown scored the only goal of the opening period at 15:11 to give the U.S. a 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes. The Team USA captain gained possession of the puck on the side boards and maneuvered to the slot through traffic before backhanding the puck past Austrian netminder Jurgen Penker from 10 feet out.

Drew Stafford (Milwaukee, Wis./Buffalo Sabres/University of North Dakota) staked the U.S. to a 2-0 advantage at 11:04 of the second period when he tapped home a nice feed across the front of the crease by Nick Foligno (Buffalo, N.Y./Ottawa Senators). Austria scored its lone goal of the game with 5:34 left in the second period.

The U.S. erupted for four third-period goals, including three on the power play. Patrick O'Sullivan (Winston-Salem, N.C./Edmonton Oilers) tipped in a Brown shot from the point just :25 into the final stanza to give the U.S. a two-goal advantage. With the U.S. skating with a two-man advantage, Jason Blake (Moorhead, Minn./Toronto Maple Leafs/University of North Dakota) converted Brown's cross-crease pass at 7:36 to make it 4-1. Lee Stempniak (West Seneca, N.Y./Toronto Maple Leafs/Dartmouth College) andMatt Niskanen (Virginia, Minn./Dallas Stars/University of Minnesota Duluth) each scored power-play goals in the second half of the third period to finish the scoring.

Robert Esche (Utica, N.Y.) made 25 saves, including 11 in the second period, to pick up the win. Team USA had a 38-26 shots-on-goal advantage in the contest.

NOTES: Six different players recorded a goal for the U.S. in the contest and 11 different players gained a point ... Team USA won its opening two games in the World Championship for the fifth straight year …Team USA will practice tomorrow (April 28) from 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. local time at the PostFinance Arena in Bern … Dustin Brown was named the U.S. Player of the Game ... The IIHF Men's World Championship includes 16 nations, initially divided into four, four-team pools. In the preliminary round, each team plays the other three teams in its pool. The top three teams in each pool advance to the qualification round. The qualification round consists of two groups of six teams each. A team advancing to the qualification round plays three additional games against the teams it has not yet faced that are part of its new pool. The top four teams in each of the two pools from the qualification round qualification round advance to the single-elimination quarterfinal round, with the winners playing in the semifinals. The two semifinal winners play for the gold medal while the losers play for the bronze medal ... Universal Sports will provide both live streaming and television coverage of the 2009 IIHF Men's World Championship beginning with the quarterfinal round. Until that time, fans in the U.S. may view games on a pay-per-view basis at IIHF.com...The 2009 U.S. Men’s National Team is under the direction of Brian Burke, general manager; David Poile, associate general manager; and Jim Johannson, assistant executive director for hockey operations at USA Hockey. The U.S. Men's National Advisory Group, which includes Burke, Paul Holmgren (Philadelphia), Johannson, Dean Lombardi (L.A. Kings), Ray Shero(Pittsburgh) and Don Waddell (Atlanta), is charged with leading the selection of players for the U.S. Men's National Team. Tony Rossi, vice president of USA Hockey and its international council chair, oversees all aspects of international competition for USA Hockey … Ron Wilson, head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, is the head coach of the 2009 U.S. Men’s National Team and the 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team.Scott Gordon, head coach of the New York Islanders, and Joe Sacco, head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League, are the assistant coaches for the 2009 U.S. Men's National Team.

GAME SUMMARY

Scoring By Period

USA 1 - 1 - 4 - 6
AUT 0 - 1 - 0- 1

First Period - Scoring: 1, USA, Brown (O'Sullivan, Niskanen), 15:11. Penalties: AUT, Schuller (high-sticking), 3:16; USA, Stempniak (interference), 6:13; USA, Backes (roughing), 18:48.

Second Period - Scoring: 2, USA, Stafford (Foligno), 11:04; 3, AUT, Peintner (unassisted), 14:26. Penalties: AUT, Rebek (hooking), 4:45.

Third Period - Scoring: 4, USA, O'Sullivan (Brown, Blake), :25; 5, USA, Blake (Brown, Liles), 7:56 (5x3 pp); 6, USA, Stempniak (Hainsey, Wilson), 12:06 (pp); 7, USA, Niskanen (Ballard), 15:55 (5x3 pp). Penalties: AUT, Koch (hooking), 4:37; USA, Backes (charging), 5:00; AUT, A. Lakos (cross-checking), 5:00; AUT, Trattnig (slashing), 6:57; AUT, Koch (slashing), 7:36; AUT, Unterluggauer (hooking), 11:09; AUT, A. Lakos (slashing), 14:57; AUT, Werenka (hooking), 15:44; USA, Stuart (hooking), 19:09.

Shots by Period 1 2 3 Total
USA 14 7 17 38
AUT 7 12 7 26
         
Goaltenders (SH/SV) 1 2 3 Total
USA, Esche 60:00 7-7 12-11 7-7 26-25
AUT, Penker 60:00 14-13 7-6 17-13 38-32

Power Play: USA 3-8; AUT 0-3
Penalties: USA 4-8; AUT 9-18
Officials: Referees: Vladimir Sindler (CZE), Derek Zalaski (CAN); Linesmen: Eric Bouguin (FRA), Chris de Haan (CAN)
Attendance:3,779