ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Team USA jumped out to an early lead with a power-play goal from Patrick Maroon (St. Louis, Mo.) less than five minutes into the contest, but the U.S. Men’s National Team fell to Canada, 5-1, in its opening game here today at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Men’s World Championship.
“I thought we competed hard against a very good hockey team,” said John Hynes, head coach of Team USA. “We’re disappointed, but we’ll take the lessons from this game and work to be better collectively tomorrow against a very good Belarus team.”
The U.S. was whistled for a penalty just 1:34 into the contest and nearly scored on a shorthanded attempt when Dylan Larkin (Waterford, Mich.) found Nick Foligno (Buffalo, N.Y.) at the right post, but the puck was just out of reach for Foligno.
Seconds after the U.S. penalty expired, Canada was called for high sticking. And just more than half way through the power play, Maroon collected a pass from Kyle Connor (Shelby Township, Mich.) and poked a loose puck past goaltender Cam Talbot to make it 1-0.
Canada tied the game :29 later on Taylor Hall’s goal and took the lead for good at 8:48 when Brendan Gallagher fired one into the top corner of the net from the left circle.
Canada nearly extended its lead at 6:19 of the second period, but a supposed goal was disallowed due to a crease violation. Matt Duchene made it 3-1 on a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot with 8:23 remaining in the frame.
The Canadians got the only two goals of the third period to account for the 5-1 final.
U.S. goaltender Keith Kinkaid (Farmingville, N.Y.) finished with 28 saves, while Talbot had 24 stops for Canada.
Team USA will continue play at the 2016 IIHF Men’s World Championship at 1:15 p.m. ET tomorrow (May 7) against Belarus. A live stream will be available on NBC Sports Live Extra, and the game will air on a tape delay on NBCSN at 1:30 a.m. ET on Sunday (May 8).
NOTES: For complete game statistics, click here … Defenseman Chris Wideman was named the U.S. Player of the Game … Team USA won 56% of the face-offs in the game and killed all five Canada power plays … Auston Matthews led Team USA with three shots on goal and won nine of 14 face-offs (.643) … Connor Murphy, who has now played 29 games for the U.S. in international competition, led all U.S. players in ice time at 20:05, while Brady Skjei (19:09) and Nick Foligno (19:01) weren’t far behind.
