Associated Press
HERNING, Denmark — The United States blew a three-goal first-period lead before beating Germany 6-3 at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.
Conor Garland‘s power-play goal 4:50 into the third period proved to be the winner as the Americans moved level on points (11) with the Czech Republic, trailing Group B leader Switzerland by two points.
“I liked our start and response in the third period,” U.S. head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “They’re (Germany) a good team. They’re well coached and play hard. We knew it would be a battle and I’m proud of our guys.”
Tage Thompson struck 1:42 into the game on a power play for his fourth goal of the tournament. Frank Nazar doubled the advantage before Drew O’Connor made it 3-0 on a rebound with 5:43 left in the first.
But the U.S. is making a habit of squandering leads. The Americans lost a four-goal advantage before prevailing 6-5 over Norway in overtime Wednesday.
Germany scored three times in the second. Defenseman Erik Mic’s goal 8:43 into the period sparked the rally. Jonas Muller scored from the slot with 5:17 remaining and Wojciech Stachowiak tied it at 3-3 less than a minute later on a power play.
After Garland’s go-ahead goal, Logan Cooley made it 5-3 with 3:29 to go and Clayton Keller scored into an empty net with 1:53 left. Garland had three assists.
Germany has nine points.
In Stockholm, Finland defeated Latvia 2-1 to stay third in Group A with 11 points. Latvia has six points in fifth.
Later Saturday, Canada plays Slovakia and Sweden meets France in Stockholm, while the Czech Republic faces Kazakhstan in Herning, where Denmark takes on Norway.
