HERNING, Denmark – Conor Garland (Scituate, Mass./Vancouver Canucks) had a goal and three assists, and six different players recorded a goal, to help lift the U.S. Men’s National Team to a 6-3 victory over Germany in preliminary round play of the 2025 IIHF Men’s World Championship here today at Jyske Bank Boxen.
“I liked our start and response in the third period,” said Ryan Warsofsky, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “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.”
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Just 1:42 into the contest, Tage Thompson (Orange, Conn./Buffalo Sabres/University of Connecticut) opened the scoring to give the U.S. an early lead, capitalizing with a wrister from the left circle off a feed from Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets/University of Michigan) on the power play.
Frank Nazar (Mount Clemens, Mich./Chicago Blackhawks/University of Michigan) doubled the advantage at the 9:44 mark when a feed from Cutter Gauthier (Scottsdale, Ariz./Anaheim Ducks/Boston College) deflected off Nazar’s skate at the top of the crease and into the back of the goal.
With 5:43 remaining in the opening frame, Thompson carried the puck into the offensive zone, weaved through the German defense and fired a shot on goal that rebounded to the left circle where Drew O’Connor(Chatham, N.J./Vancouver Canucks/Dartmouth College) put it into an empty net to make it 3-0.
At the 8:43 mark of the middle stanza, Germany’s Eric Mik picked up a power play tally with a short-side shot from the left circle to cut the lead to 3-1.
Jonas Muller brought Germany within one goal with 5:17 to play in the second period, with his wrist shot finding the top corner of the net from the slot.
Just 48 seconds later, Germany’s Wojciech Stachowiak scored on the power play to even the game, redirecting a shot from the point on the back door past netminder Joey Daccord (North Andover, Mass./Seattle Kraken/Arizona State University).
Garland buried what proved to the game-winning goal on the power play 4:50 into third period with a one-timer from the slot off a feed from Clayton Keller (St. Louis, Mo./Utah Mammoth/Boston University).
Logan Cooley (Pittsburgh, Pa./Utah Mammoth/University of Minnesota) scored an important insurance marker at 16:31 after Keller intercepted a pass behind the net, fed Garland in the left circle who found a wide-open Cooley on a cross-ice feed. Keller accounted for the 6-3 final with an empty-net goal at 18:07.
Daccord picked up the win in the U.S. goal with 18 saves.
Team USA is back in action tomorrow (May 18) against Kazakhstan. Puck drop is set for 10:20 a.m. ET, live on NHL Network.
NOTES: The U.S. outshot Germany 44-21 … Team USA was 2-5 on the power play, while Germany was 1-2 … Conor Garland, with a goal and three assists, was named the U.S. Player of the Game.
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Source: usahockey.com