ZURICH (AP) \u2014 Sandis Vilmanis scored two empty-net goals and Latvia upset the United States 4-2 to hand the defending champion its third defeat at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Deniss Smirnovs\u2019 goal early in the third period gave Latvia a 2-1 lead and set up a wild ending.<\/p>\n
The Americans pulled goaltender Devin Cooley<\/a> for an extra attacker but Vilmanis scored with 1:02 left to make it 3-1.<\/p>\n The U.S. struck back \u2014 again with six skaters \u2014 when Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> set up Mathieu Olivier<\/a> to cut the deficit to one from the slot with 0:51 remaining.<\/p>\n Vilmanis sealed the victory, though, when he netted his second with 42 seconds to go.<\/p>\n Latvia opened the scoring in the first period when Haralds Egle connected at 8:47 with his team\u2019s second shot on goal.<\/p>\n Tkachuk\u2019s power-play goal \u2014 his first at the worlds \u2014 tied it at 1-1 with 5:12 remaining in the middle period. The two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic champion played only his second career game at the worlds after joining teammates on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The loss left the U.S. fifth in Group A, one point behind Latvia. The Americans have two group-stage games left against Hungary on Monday and Austria on Tuesday.<\/p>\n In Group B in Fribourg, Denmark blanked Slovenia 4-0 for its first win.<\/p>\n Perfect Swiss<\/p>\n