Team USA Wins But Learns Lesson About Finishing Teams Off

The defending gold medalists Team USA won their opening preliminary round game against Team Slovakia by a score of 3-2. However, the victory came with a cost learning a valuable lesson about finishing teams off when they have the opposition down.

Just like the pre-tournament game against Finland, Team USA almost blew another lead. Team USA had Slovakia on the ropes jumping out to a 3-0 after two periods getting goals from Matt Knies, Mackie Samoskevich, and Landon Slaggert. It appeared Team USA was firmly in control of this game and if it was not for the play of Slovakian goaltender Simon Latkozky this game could have been a lot worse. Latkozky’s play allowed Slovakia to make a third-period comeback.

Martin Chromiak scored twice in the third period for Slovakia to cut the American lead to 3-2. Slovakia had the ice tilted in their favour and if it was not for goaltender Drew Commesso, the Americans would have walked out of this game with a loss. Commesso made several key saves late in the third period to preserve the victory for the Americans.

Slovakia had the Americans on their heels in the third period outshooting them 14-11. While the Americans had chances to extend their lead, Slovakia just kept coming. Commesso turned away several good attempts from Slovakia. First, Commesso stopped Juraj Slafkovsky, who made a nice move to get to the slot, but his backhand which did beat Commesso rang off the post. Mros Jedlicka had two good chances from in the close moments later, but Commesso was there to bail out the Americans again.

The Americans knew they escaped this game as they relied on Commesso too much in the third period, which gave him player of the game honours. Team USA knows they need to play as they head deeper into the tournament especially when they play teams like Russia and Sweden.

“I thought we were okay,” said Jake Sanderson after the game. “It was kind of a funny game. Drew was super busy for certain parts of it, so it’s kind of on the guys to stay dialled. It’s also a reminder you can’t take any country lightly. We have to be ready every night. But you have to find ways to win. It’s not going to be pretty hockey for 60 minutes. You have to chip away, get pucks deep, and just get to work. That’s winning hockey.”

Head coach Nate Leaman thought his team played well but felt there was room for improvement as he echoed those sentiments after the game.

“Our guys stuck together and grinded out a tough game,” said head coach Nate Leaman “It’s a good first step for our group. We need to keep working hard and improving before we play Switzerland on Tuesday.”

One area Team USA did improve in was their penalty kill, which will be vital to their success going forward in the tournament. They were 3-for-4 on their penalty kill giving up the lone power-play goal in the third period. Goaltender Drew Commesso was Team USA’s best penalty killer. He will need to continue to do this going forward if Team USA wants to win the gold medal.

One thing is for sure the defending gold medalists learned a valuable lesson about what it takes to polish teams off in round-robin competition. Because they cannot ill-afford to take their foot off the gas pedal later on in the tournament as it could cost them seeding or even a chance at a medal.