US edges Slovakia in men’s hockey 2-1 at 2018 Winter Olympics

The Slovenian men’s ice hockey team opened the Olympic tournament on Wednesday in Pyeongchang with a 3-2 win over the favored United States in overtime.

Sweden plays for a quarter-final berth Sunday against Finland, which beat Norway 5-1 as Eeli Tolvanen, 18, scored twice.

OAR’s second powerplay of the game came 6 minutes into the second frame.

It was a come-from-behind victory for Slovenia, who trailed the Americans until the 46th minute, when Blaž Gregorc scored to reduce the USA lead to 2-1. U.S. goalie Ryan Zapolski gave up a bad goal to Andrej Kudrna to tie the game 25 seconds later.

The goal was the 11th of Kovalchuk’s Olympic career, passing Pavel Bure as the highest-scoring Russian Olympian of all-time. “We scored the first goal then our goalie made some great saves”. After each team’s first game, Slovakia is atop Group B, followed by Slovenia, the US and the Russians.

Donato, who plays for his father Ted at Harvard, Terry (Denver University), Greenway (Boston University) and American Hockey League scoring star Chris Bourque were all additions to the US after the pre-Olympic Deutschland Cup, during which the USA struggled to score – particularly against Slovakia goaltender Jan Laco.

“I think we played a lot more aggressive”, Donato told NBC’s Pierre McGuire after the game.

“[It took] a while to realize that I can play at this level and I can be a difference-maker”, Terry said. “He wanted to do a little dance with me by the bench, so I was willing to do it”.

Men’s Group B: Olympic Athletes from Russian Federation vs.

In six Olympic meetings since then, including Saturday’s victory, the Russians hold the series lead, winning four times, losing once and tying once.

If the Americans pressure the puck and score early Saturday, their path to the medal rounds gets easier, as a win would lead to an automatic spot in the quarterfinals. Pushing and shoving followed countless whistles, and at one point US forward Jordan Greenway and Prokhorkin got tangled up and came as close to a fight as players can without dropping the gloves.

Kovalchuk blasted a shot past USA goaltender Ryan Zapolski from the right faceoff circle with 0.2sec remaining in the period, boosting their lead to 3-0.

The U.S. will regret several missed opportunities, most notably Brian Gionta’s failed breakaway attempt midway through the middle frame and Ryan Donato’s wrist shot that rang off the crossbar. He had Koshechkin beaten but the puck slid off the toe of his stick. “It’s not always about the goals and who scores it, but obviously getting a couple goals it definitely felt good”.

Slovenia forward Ziga Pance made it 8-2 late in the game. Coach Tony Granato pointed out that Slovenia probably should have been the more exhausted team from playing so much in its defensive zone, but there was none of that from a group that has only one player – Mursak – with National Hockey League experience.