HERNING, Denmark (AP) — The United States blanked Denmark 5-0 on the opening day of the ice hockey world championship on Friday.
Matty Beniers led the Americans with two goals, Cutter Gauthier and Mason Lohrei had a goal and an assist each, and Logan Cooley also scored in a Group B game played in Herning, Denmark.
Michael Kesselring had two assists and goaltender Joey Daccord recorded a 26-shot shutout.
“Any time a goalie gets a shutout is a team result,” Daccord said after his debut at the worlds.
Gauthier opened the scoring from the slot with 2:08 left in the opening period. Cooley doubled the advantage on a power play, Beniers added on a rebound in the middle period and Lohrei made it 4-0 from the point midway through the final period. Beniers one-timed a slap shot for his second with 3:44 remaining.
Sweden delights home crowd
Sweden shut out Slovakia 5-0 to delight the home crowd in Stockholm in Group A.
Mikael Backlund, Leo Carlsson and Jonas Brodin scored 8:37 apart in the second part of the opening period to give Sweden a commanding 3-0 lead.
Elias Lindholm stretched it to 4-0 in the second and Mika Zibanejad finished it off in the final period.
Backlund and Lindholm added an assist each.
Sweden won the championship when it took place in Stockholm last time in 2013.
Czechs prevail in OT
Defending champion Czech Republic earlier prevailed in overtime to beat Switzerland 5-4 in a rematch of last year’s final.
Roman Cervenka scored the winner 2:30 into overtime from the left circle after David Pastrnak fed him with his second assist in in Herning.
Czech Lukas Sedlak tied the game at 4-4 on a rebound on a power play with 3:47 left to force overtime.
Matej Stransky, Filip Zadina and Filip Pyrochta also scored for the Czechs who beat the Swiss 2-0 in the final last year in Prague.
Christian Marti, Damien Riat, Sandro Schmid and Sven Andrighetto scored for Switzerland.
In Stockholm, Finland topped Austria 2-1.
The tournament is the final men’s international test before the 2026 Winter Games in Italy, where NHL players return to the Olympics after 12 years.
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