Canada shuts out Belarus to remain undefeated at the World Championship.
By Chris Ryndak / Sabres.com
Jack Eichel picked up a pair of assists for Team USA to help them overcome Sweden on Monday at the 2017 IIHF World Championship. Eichel assisted on both the team’s opening goal and the game-tying goal early in the third period.
In early action, Ryan O’Reilly and Team Canada pounced on Belarus to improve to 3-0-0 in the tournament.
USA 4 – SWE 3
It was a back-and-forth affair in Cologne, Germany that saw Team USA pull away with a victory thanks to J.T. Compher’s winner with 8:13 left in regulation.
Sweden took an early lead with a power-play goal 2:14 into the opening period and the U.S. responded 1:07 later when on the rush, Clayton Keller buried an Eichel rebound to tie the game.
After Elias Lindholm scored his second of the game to make it 2-1 Sweden, Johnny Gaudreau tallied for the U.S. Victor Hedman then scored 37 seconds later, with 1:13 remaining in the first, to put the Swedes ahead 3-2.
Then, 2:57 into the second period, Eichel picked up his second assist of the game when he set up Gaudreau for his second of the night, tying the game once again.
That set the stage for Compher’s goal that allowed the U.S. to improve their record to 2-1-0 in the tournament. With six points, they’re currently in third place in Group A behind Russia and Latvia.
BLR 0 – CAN 6
The Canadians increased their tournament goal differential to plus-14 with the win over Belarus in Paris. Canada scored once in the first, twice in the second, and three times in the third to claim victory.
Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point each scored twice. MacKinnon and Jeff Skinner (1+2) were Canada’s leading scorers with three points each.
Ryan O’Reilly skated 16:14 while playing on a line with Matt Duchene and Mark Scheifele.
Canada outshot Belarus 45-13 in the game. Calvin Pickard earned the shutout.
Up next
Zemgus Girgensons and Latvia will face Italy at 10:15 am on Tuesday as they look for their third win over the tournament.
Team USA is back in action on Wednesday when they face Italy at 10:15 am. That game can be seen live on NBCSN and on the NBC Sports app.
Undefeated Canada, currently the top seed in Group B, will face France on Thursday at 2:15 pm on NHL Network.