2022 Olympics: Breaking down USA's first-place-clinching win over Germany; NHL prospect notes
USA earns No. 1 seed and bye to the semifinals
The youngest team in the Winter Olympics is now the only team to finish the preliminary round with an unblemished record. The U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team earned a 3-2 win over Germany to finish group play with a 3-0-0-0 record, the only team to secure all nine points. With that finish, the Americans are the No. 1 seed heading into the playoff round and have earned a bye to the quarterfinals.
Team USA will meet the winner of the qualification game between Germany and Slovakia in a quarterfinal scheduled for 11:10 p.m. ET on Feb. 15.
It was a hard-fought game, and probably just what the U.S. needed to get ready for the elimination stage of these Olympics. Winning all three games in the prelims is great, but it can all be over after just one more contest if they don’t have their best. Germany made them work for everything they got in this game and the Americans managed to find a way, which bodes well for their coming games.
Germany struck first and early in the game as they took advantage on a power play just two minutes into the game, with Patrick Hager scoring on a re-direct from the net front. It wasn’t the ideal start, but the U.S. responded well, drawing a penalty just over a minute later.
The U.S. capitalized with a power-play goal of its own when Steven Kampfer absolutely hammered a slap shot from the top of the point through a screen to even the score. The rest of the first period got a little chippy and physical, especially as the U.S. started getting its forecheck game going a lot better.
In the second period, the U.S. established its game even more. The speed, the forecheck, the transition all looked a bit cleaner and a bit more effective. As a result, the U.S. out-shot Germany 14-7 in the middle frame. They were rewarded with a goal as Nick Abruzzese (TOR) found Matt Knies (TOR) in front with a desperation dive and sweep as he attempted a wraparound under pressure. Knies was able to throw the puck into the open side of the net to give the U.S. its first lead of the game.
The third period provided more of the same, though with a bit more pushback from Germany, but once again, the Americans used their excellence in puck pursuit to force a turnover that slid a puck to a wide-open Nathan Smith (WPG), who slid a backhander through Danny aus den Birken to make it 3-1.
The Germans upped the pressure throughout the rest of the game and managed to make things interesting when former NHLer Tom Kuhnhackl scored off of a rebound all alone in the net front. A few final flurries came after that goal, but the Americans held firm with Drew Commesso (CHI) making a few stops through traffic.
The American netminder stopped 24 of 26 shots to secure his second win of these Olympics and strengthened his case to be the No. 1 in the medal round.
Team USA will now await the winner of Slovakia vs. Germany in the qualification round as those two teams finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, here’s the Qualification Round schedule per the IIHF, all games are on Tuesday in Beijing, with two of them airing on Monday night in the U.S. and who they’d meet in the quarterfinals on Feb. 16:
Slovakia vs. Germany, 11:10 p.m. ET (Feb. 14) > USA
Denmark vs. Latvia, 11:10 p.m. ET (Feb. 14) > ROC
Czechia vs. Switzerland, 2:40 a.m. ET (Feb. 15) > Finland
Canada vs. China, 8:10 a.m. ET (Feb. 15) > Sweden
In the semifinals, the tournament is re-seeded, which means if Team USA advances to the semis, they will get the lowest-seeded remaining team at that point.
So let’s get to some USA-Germany game analysis:
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