HERNING, Denmark (AP) — The United States blew a three-goal first-period lead before beating Germany 6-3 at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.
Conor Garland’s power-play goal 4:50 into the third period proved to be the winner as the Americans moved to third in Group B. The top four advance to the quarterfinals.
“I liked our start and response in the third period,” U.S. coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “They’re (Germany) a good team. They’re well coached and play hard. We knew it would be a battle and I’m proud of our guys.”
Tage Thompson struck 1:42 into the game on a power play for his fourth goal of the tournament. Frank Nazar doubled the advantage and Drew O’Connor made it 3-0 on a rebound with 5:43 left in the first.
But the U.S. is making a habit of squandering leads. It lost a four-goal advantage before beating Norway 6-5 in overtime Wednesday.
Germany scored three times in the second. Defenseman Erik Mic’s goal 8:43 into the period sparked the rally. Jonas Muller scored from the slot with 5:17 remaining and Wojciech Stachowiak leveled less than a minute later on a power play.
After Garland’s go-ahead goal, Logan Cooley made it 5-3 with 3:29 to go and Clayton Keller scored into an empty net with 1:53 left. Garland had three assists.
In Stockholm, Sweden shut out winless France 4-0 to stay perfect and lead Group A with six wins from six games. Isac Lundestrom and Raymond Lucas had a goal and an assist each and Samuel Ersson stopped 15 shots.
In Herning, the Czech Republic routed Kazakhstan 8-1 with captain Roman Cervenka contributing a hat trick. The Czechs top Group B.
Earlier, Finland defeated Latvia 2-1 to stay third in Group A. Latvia was fifth.
Later Saturday, Canada played Slovakia and Denmark took on Norway.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
The Associated Press
