| Team USA Back In Action Tomorrow Against Canada at 1:15 p.m. ET |
| RIGA, Latvia — The U.S. Men’s National Team dropped a hard-fought 2-1 decision to defending champion Finland here tonight in the opening game for both teams at the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championship.Team USA returns to action tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. ET against Canada for the second of its seven preliminary round games. The contest can been seen live on NHL Network. “I thought the guys played really well given the short time we’ve spent together so far,” said Jack Capuano, head coach of the 2021 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We did a lot of good things, but their goalie played well and we couldn’t capitalize on our chances. “There’s a lot of good things we can look at as we turn our attention here toward Canada tomorrow.” After a scoreless first period, the Finns jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the middle frame before Jason Robertson (Northville, Mich.) tallied on the power play at 18:01 to cut the deficit to 2-1 after 40 minutes.The U.S. outshot Finland, 14-5, in the third period, but was unable to get the equalizer. Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) made 27 saves in the U.S. net, while Jussi Olkinoura had 29 stops for Finland. NOTES: The U.S. outshot Finland, 30-29 … The U.S. was 1-2 on the power play, while Finland was 0-1 … Jason Roberston (Northville, Mich.) was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Justin Abdelkader (Muskegon, Mich.) is serving as captain of Team USA, while Colin Blackwell (North Andover, Mass.) and Matt Roy (Detroit, Mich.) are the squad’s alternate captains . (USA Hockey Photo) |
