“We believe in the depth we have,” winger Jake Guentzel said. “There’s good players on every line. That’s just where American hockey is right now.’’
After a weird first period with a couple of video reviews and a tying goal by Latvia, the Americans found their groove and for long stretches barely let their opponents have the puck. The U.S. outshot Latvia 38-18 and needed starter Connor Hellebuyck to make only 17 saves.
“I felt like we controlled the play,” center Jack Eichel said. “We’re going to continue to get better every game in this tournament, every period in this tournament. That’s our goal, and it’s a good start for us.”
Elvis Merzlikins was under siege at the other end, and after Nelson's second goal he sat in the crease with his head bowed in his lap. An odd-man rush became a version of the Harlem Globetrotters on ice with pass after pass: Jack Hughes to brother Quinn to Matthew Tkachuk, back to Jack and then to Nelson to tap into a half-open net with 11.1 seconds left in the second period.
“I don’t think there’s much to do,” Merzlikins said. “If that guy wouldn’t score, probably the other guy would score because I felt completely two open guys, and it’s hard to save something like that.”
Brady Tkachuk scored the first U.S. goal of the tournament less than six minutes in, and Tage Thompson roofed a nifty backhander on the power play, making coach Mike Sullivan look smart for putting the 6-foot-6 winger on the loaded top unit. Four goals on 32 shots was enough to chase Merzlikins, who was pulled to start the third for Arturs Silovs.
Captain Auston Matthews welcomed Silovs to the Olympics with a power-play goal, assisted on by Eichel and Quinn Hughes. Each of them had two assists, along with Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Hughes.
“I just think the depth that we have, it showed,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I thought everybody played a great game tonight. You just see the buy-in. You see the buy-in of every line playing the right way.”
The U.S. plays Denmark on Saturday night before wrapping up the preliminary round 24 hours later against Germany.
Canada looks like the favorite, beating Czechia
Macklin Celebrini scored Canada’s first goal in the return of the NHL to the Olympics and Jordan Binnington stopped all 26 shots he faced in a 5-0 defeat of Czechia that showed the tournament favorite is already a well-oiled machine.
“Our intentions were really good with the way we played,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “I thought we were physical. We were moving our feet. The execution, sometimes that comes with time. But even other times we did some good things and executed well. Just a matter of building off of that.”
Celebrini, his country’s youngest player at 19, deflected a shot by Cale Makar past Lukas Dostal with 5.7 seconds left in the first, putting an exclamation point on a terrific, back-and-forth period. After Mitch Marner’s saucer pass to Mark Stone for his goal and Bo Horvat’s on a breakaway later in the second, Czechia never stood a chance.
“When you’re playing in the Olympics for the first time, it never gets old, and everybody’s got their jitters,” coach Jon Cooper said. “You know what I liked? I thought we got better as that game went on.”
The handful of times Binnington got tested, he was there to make the save. Before Celebrini scored, Binnington kept it 0-0 by making a left-pad stop on Michal Kempny and reaching out to smother David Kampf’s rebound attempt.
At the other end of the ice, Dostal played well but was helpless to slow down much of the onslaught. There was nothing he could do on the Crosby-to-Connor McDavid-to-Nathan MacKinnon tic-tac-toe power-play goal in the third period.
“Two of the best players ever to play passing it to me is cool,” MacKinnon said. “I didn’t do much for that one. Just blessed to be on the back side. Anyone would have put that in.”
The same trio combined for almost the same goal in the opening game of the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago. Canada won that Olympic appetizer by beating the U.S. in overtime.
McDavid finished with three assists, including one on Nick Suzuki’s goal that made it 5-0.
Timo Meier scores twice as Switzerland shuts out France
Timo Meier of the New Jersey Devils scored twice in the third period, 39-year-old national team goaltender Leonardo Genoni stopped all 27 shots he faced and Switzerland shut out France 4-0.
Damien Riat scored 55 seconds in, J.J. Moser of the Tampa Bay Lightning made it a two-goal lead three minutes in and there wasn't much to worry about the rest of the way, outshooting Switzerland 43-27.
“It helps you a lot if you score two in the first, whatever it was, five minutes,” Moser said. “It just gives you a little bit more comfort, more confidence also for the rest of the game.”
The goals by Meier put the game out of reach after he and his teammates tilted the ice toward Keller. Meier called it “a mature performance there how we put the game away.”
Philipp Grubauer shines as Germany beats Denmark
Philipp Grubauer stopped 37 of the 38 shots he faced and Tim Stützle scored two goals as Germany beat Denmark 3-1 at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena across town.
Leon Draisaitl scored just 23 seconds into his Olympic debut.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics