Americans hold off Slovakia to kickstart world juniors campaign with victory
Sweden breezes past Russia, Helenius leads Finland past Germany
The United States jumped to a three-goal lead and overcame a third-period comeback to defeat Slovakia 3-2 Sunday in the final game on the first day at the world junior hockey championship.
Matthew Knies, Mackie Samoskevich and Landon Slaggert scored for the defending champion Americans (1-0) in pool B action in Red Deer, Alta.
Goalie Drew Commesso stopped 23 shots in the win.
Martin Chromiak scored twice in the third period for Slovakia (0-1), which failed to find the equalizer late in the game.
Hard work in front of the net 💪 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldJuniors?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldJuniors</a> <a href="https://t.co/gfGgbeSr3q">pic.twitter.com/gfGgbeSr3q</a>
—@usahockeySimon Latkoczy made 39 saves in defeat.
"Our guys stuck together and grinded out a tough game," U.S. coach Nate Leaman said. "It's a good first step for our group. We need to keep working hard and improving before we play Switzerland on Tuesday."
Sweden breezes past Russia
Simon Edvinsson, Emil Andrae and Alexander Holtz each scored one and assisted another to lead Sweden past Russia 6-3 Sunday on the first day at the world junior hockey championship.
Oskar Olausson, Theodor Niederbach and Daniel Ljungman also scored for Sweden (1-0). Helge Grans and William Eklund chipped in with two assists apiece.
GOAL :🚨 Tic-Tac-Goal!<br><br>Alexander Holtz finishes it off to give <a href="https://twitter.com/Trekronorse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Trekronorse</a> a 4-1 lead!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldJuniors?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldJuniors</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RUSSWE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RUSSWE</a> <a href="https://t.co/anxPepYJF7">pic.twitter.com/anxPepYJF7</a>
—@IIHFHockeyJesper Wallstedt turned away 27 shots in the tournament-opening win in Red Deer, Alta.
Matvei Michkov replied with two third-period goals for Russia (0-1). Fyodor Svechkov also scored.
Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov gave up three goals on 16 shots before being pulled after two periods. Yegor Guskov stopped 5-of-7 shots in relief in the third.
Helenius leads Finland past Germany
Samuel Helenius scored twice as Finland topped Germany 3-1 on Sunday in the first day of play at the world junior hockey championship.
Joel Maata had the eventual winner in the second period for Finland (1-0) with Brad Lambert assisting on both of Helenius's goals.
The flying Finns are back! <br>Samuel Helenius gets right into the net to pick up a nice pass from Brad Lambert and widens <a href="https://twitter.com/leijonat?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@leijonat</a>'s lead by 2. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WorldJuniors?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WorldJuniors</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FINGER?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FINGER</a> <a href="https://t.co/4ZgWTKYM1E">pic.twitter.com/4ZgWTKYM1E</a>
—@IIHFHockeyLeevi Merilainen made 23 saves for the win in net.
Luca Munzenberger was the lone scorer for Germany (0-1), which got 19 stops from goaltender Nikita Quapp.
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