MILAN — Matthew Tkachuk insists he and his U.S. teammates were only focused on beating Germany in their preliminary round finale and never worried about scoring enough goals to pass Canada for the top seed at the Winter Olympics.
“We never talked once about the top seed at all,” Tkachuk said. “None of that seeding stuff. All that handles itself.”
It’s handled now, after the U.S. defeated Germany 5-1 on Sunday night behind two goals and an assist from captain Auston Matthews and 23 saves from Connor Hellebuyck. The Americans finished group play unbeaten to clinch the second seed in the knockout round.
“The confidence just continues to grow within our group,” Matthews said. “Each game I think we’ve taken steps in the right direction of where we want to grow our game going into the quarterfinals and it’s good to see.”
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Canada put such a beatdown on France, winning 10-2, that the U.S. would have had to run up the score and beat Germany by 10 goals to pass the tournament favorite. The North American rivals cannot meet until the gold medal game.
They have to get there first. The U.S. is set to face the winner of the qualification round game Tuesday between Sweden and Latvia, while Canada plays Czechia or Denmark in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Sweden is the only European team at the Olympics with a full roster of NHL players, won two of its three preliminary round games and only dropped to seventh because of a goal differential tiebreaker.
“A super-skilled team, a lot of guys we see throughout the NHL season,” said defenseman Zach Werenski, whose goal was set up by Matthews. “They have a lot of talent on that team, and we know last year at the 4 Nations it was a hard game. I expect the same thing in the quarters if that’s who we’re playing against.”
It could be quite the test for the U.S., which has only faced Latvia, Denmark and Germany so far.
The Germany game was a chance for the Americans to fine-tune their play before the tournament goes to single-elimination playoffs. Matthew Tkachuk had a pair of assists, and Matthews, the captain just as he was at the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago, had his best showing of the tournament.
Hellebuyck also looked good in his second start, allowing only a goal to Tim Stützle. The U.S. got the goaltending it expected from him after a shaky outing from Jeremy Swayman 24 hours earlier.
“I thought it was his best game,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I just think he was tracking pucks extremely well.”
Crosby, McDavid and Canada crush France
Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid each had a goal and two assists in a clinical, businesslike 10-2 dismantling of France. Canada finished round robin play undefeated, outscoring opponents by 17 goals over three games.
“We did what we came to do,” said McDavid, who leads all scorers in Milan. ”We came to win a hockey game and continue to get better.”
The blowout also included Tom Wilson fighting the player who delivered a forearm to Nathan MacKinnon’s face a couple of minutes earlier. MacKinnon returned and Wilson was ejected, since fighting is a game misconduct under international rules, but the already popular teammate earned even more respect inside Canada’s locker room.
“He’s going to stick up for his guys,” forward Sam Bennett said. “He’s a leader on this team and he’s a guy that’s going to protect our guys and do whatever it takes for our team.”
Macklin Celebrini, Canada’s youngest player at 19, scored on a penalty shot and on the power play against France to give him four goals in three games. Wilson, picked by coach Jon Cooper to ride shotgun on the top line on McDavid’s right wing, also had a goal, an assist and some big hits.
Mark Stone scored short-handed with 3.4 seconds left in the first period and had two assists. Brandon Hagel had Canada’s ninth goal in the third before Celebrini scored the 10th.
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