USA 6, FINLAND 2
Chaz Lucius and Rutger McGroarty scored USA's first two goals to pave the way to a 6-2 win for the Americans, who earn top spot in Group B with a record of 3-0-0-1.
Lucius' first period tally was his second of the tournament, and first since USA's tournament opener against Latvia on Boxing Day. He corralled a puck off the end boards and banged it in with 4:28 to go in the opening period.
Tweet from @NHLJets: Incredible skill on display from Chaz Lucius! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Kw8qV5LipR
After Joakim Kemell's power play blast tied the game before the end of the first, McGroarty - who already has two assists in the tournament - wired a Luke Hughes drop pass through Finnish goaltender Aku Koskenvuo's legs to put USA up 2-1.
Tweet from @NHLJets: Jets leading the way for Team USA 🇺🇸 ������ pic.twitter.com/EsYBssinqt
That was the first of three unanswered goals in the second for the Americans, who led 4-1 before Finland made the score 5-2 on a goal from Lenni Hameenaho.
Two more goals for the USA in the third rounded out the scoring.
In total, McGroarty finishes the preliminary round with a goal and two assists in four games, while Lucius had two goals in that same time span.
Brad Lambert had one shot and was held off the scoresheet against the USA in 13:37 of ice time. He finishes the preliminary round with one goal in four games.
USA will now play Germany in the quarterfinal.
CANADA 5, SWEDEN 1
Fabian Wagner and Sweden fell behind 3-0 in the opening 11:45 of the first period and weren't able to recover, as the hosts earned a 5-1 victory.
Wagner didn't record any points, but will finish with two goals and four points in the four preliminary round games. Connor Bedard led Canada with assists on four of the five goals Canada scored in the game.
As a result, Sweden will take on Finland in the quarterfinal, and Canada will face Slovakia.
