The U.S. team secured its first victory of the tournament with a 6-1 win over Germany on Saturday night. Thirteen different players from the United States contributed to the points, with five players having multi-point performances: Johnny Gaudreau (1g, 1a), Michael Kesselring (1g, 1a), Shane Pinto (2a), Cole Caufield (2a), and Seth Jones (2a).
Prior to this victory, Slovakia had started the tournament with a 6-4 loss to Germany before bouncing back with a 6-2 win over Kazakhstan.
The U.S. and Slovakia last faced each other in the quarterfinals of the 2021 world championship, where Colin Blackwell and Conor Garland each scored twice to lead the U.S. to a 6-1 victory. The two teams also met in the preliminary round of the 2019 world championship, with Slovakia emerging victorious with a 4-1 win. Jack Eichel was named the U.S. Player of the Game in that contest, while Alex DeBrincat scored the lone U.S. goal in front of a packed crowd at Steel Arena. Overall, the U.S. holds a record of seven wins in their thirteen meetings against Slovakia.
Unfortunately for Team USA, goaltender Alex Lyon sustained an injury during Saturday’s game and has been replaced by Alex Nedeljkovic and Trey Augustine for today’s matchup against Slovakia once again.
This marks only their second meeting since then but it is sure to be another intense battle between these two teams who have always had strong rivalries in ice hockey tournaments
