(Gothenburg) Montreal Canadiens prospect Lane Hutson was one of four players on his team to record three points and was one of the pillars of a convincing 10-2 state victory. -United against Slovakia on Sunday in the last match for the two countries in the preliminary phase of the World Junior Hockey Championship.
The American defender collected three assists, the first on a goal by Gavin Brindley (2-1-3), scored 29 seconds into the second period as the United States tried to resist a numerical disadvantage of five minutes.
Hutson also contributed to the last two goals of the match, those of Cutter Gauthier (1-2-3) and Isaac Howard (2-0-2), which capped an explosion of five unanswered goals in the third period.
Rutger McGroarty was the other big star of the American team with a hat trick.
It was the second time since the start of the tournament that the American team scored at least 10 goals. She achieved the feat in an 11-3 win against Switzerland on December 28.
In addition to slowing down the momentum of the Slovaks, winners of their first three matches in the group phase, the United States (3-1-0-0 -11 points) ensured they finished first in Group B, ahead of Slovakia (3-0-1-0 -9 points).
In the quarterfinals on Tuesday, the Americans will face Latvia or Germany.
The United States took control of the match from the final moments of the second period.
After Filip Mesar, another Habs prospect, scored his first goal of the tournament at 17:50 of the second period to cut the United States’ lead to 3-2, Ryan Leonard answered back 30 seconds later.
McGroarty added his second of the game 34 seconds after his teammate’s. McGroarty completed his hat trick at 4:06 of the third period to make it 6-2.
PHOTO ADAM IHSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rutger McGroarty and Jimmy Snuggerud
Marian Mosko scored the other goal for Slovakia, who directed 40 pucks toward goaltender Trey Augustine.
Later Sunday, Canada will complete the preliminary phase of the tournament by facing Germany.
The Germans need to pick up a point in the standings to finish fourth in Group A and avoid having to play a relegation match against Norway next Thursday.
In the other two games on the calendar, on Sunday, Sweden, already assured of first place in Group A, faces Finland while Switzerland and the Czech Republic will cross swords in a duel aimed at determining which of these two teams will be classified. in the third level in group B.
All teams qualified for the quarter-finals will take a break on Monday, New Year’s Day, before returning to action on Tuesday.