WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ryan Kesler (Livonia, Mich.) had a goal and an assist and Jonathan Quick (Milford, Conn.) made 30 saves as Team USA defeated Finland, 3-2, in its final pre-tournament game in advance of the World Cup of Hockey 2016.
“Overall, I thought it was our best game of the pre-tournament” said John Tortorella, head coach of the U.S. World Cup of Hockey Team. “It’s certainly something we can continue to build on as we get to Toronto.”
Team USA raced to a 1-0 lead just 1:08 into the game when T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn.) one-timed a feed by Kesler from behind the net.
Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y.) had an opportunity to double the U.S. lead in the final seconds of the opening period, but his breakaway attempt was stopped by Pekka Rinne and trickled just wide of the net.
At 3:37 of the second period, Blake Wheeler (Plymouth, Minn.) found a streaking Kesler for a one-timer to extend the U.S lead to 2-0.
Less than two minutes later, Derek Stepan (Hastings, Minn.) collected a pass from John Carlson (Natick, Mass.) and fired a quick slap shot from the slot to give Team USA a three-goal advantage.
Finland’s Patrik Laine netted a power-play goal at 11:22 of the final period, and Jussi Jokinen scored on a rebound to cut the U.S. lead to 3-2 with 4:33 remaining.
After Team USA was whistled for delay of game with 2:02 left, Finland pulled goaltender Pekka Rinne to create a six-on-four man-advantage, but was unable to beat Quick for the equalizer.
Team USA opens the World Cup of Hockey 2016 Saturday (Sept. 17) at 3:30 p.m. ET against Team Europe at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2, in addition to being streamed live on WatchESPN.
NOTES: For full game statistics, click here … The World Cup of Hockey 2016 will include eight teams split into two groups of four … Teams will play a round-robin format within their group and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals … The U.S. will be competing in Group A with Canada, Czech Republic and Team Europe … All games will be played at Air Canada Centre in Toronto and be televised to U.S. viewers on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNNEWS) … The competition is a joint effort of the National Hockey League Players’ Association and the National Hockey League, in cooperation with the International Ice Hockey Federation and its member federations … The World Cup of Hockey has been conducted on two previous occasions (1996, 2004), with the U.S. winning the first edition in 1996
