(L-R) Auston Matthews celebrates with David Warsofsky and Frank Vatrano after scoring a second-period goal against Germany at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on May 15, 2016 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Buoyed by a last-minute goal from Korbinian Holzer, Germany defeated the United States 3-2 at the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia.
With the loss, the U.S. slips to 3-3 in group play at the tournament and fourth place in Group B. To advance to the quarterfinals, the Americans, the reigning bronze medalists, must defeat Slovakia in their final preliminary game Tuesday, a contest that will begin at 5:15 a.m. ET.
The game did not start well for the U.S., going down a man just a minute into the game on a bit of misfortune. The penalty served by Chris Wideman came when goalkeeper Mike Condon’s stick got tangled in the skate of Germany’s Felix Schutz, resulting in a tripping penalty.
The Germans capitalized on the opportunity when Patrick Hager cleaned up a missed shot off Condon’s glove that fell loose into the crease behind the U.S. netminder, leaving it to Hager to scoop into the empty net just 2:19 into the game.
The U.S. equalized at 10:35 when Jake McCabe beat his man and took a clean cross from J.T. Compher for a back-door goal to even the game at 1-1. The tie didn’t last long, as Christian Ehrhoff launched a long shot from the point to beat Condon glove-side for a 2-1 German advantage at 13:06, a score that stood at the first intermission.
Starting the second period with a one-man advantage after a German penalty late in the first, the American side came out aggressively, leading to an Auston Matthews power play goal from the left point 26 seconds into the stanza. The 2-2 score stood at the second intermission despite three power play opportunities for the U.S.
The winning goal came with just 33 seconds left in regulation. Germany won a faceoff deep in the U.S. end and played the puck back to Holzer, who cut loose a hopeful shot from the blue line that found its way past Condon and into the net.
The Americans did not lead at any point in the game, despite chances gifted them by the physical, testy Germans. The U.S. had seven power play opportunities but took advantage of only one, when Matthews tied the game at 2-2. The U.S. took almost three shots to every one of Germany’s, but German goalkeeper Thomas Greiss was up to the challenge, stopping 31 of the 33 U.S. tries.