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<\/p>\nMILAN \u2014 Team USA might have it on a formula to get it through the rough stretches of these Olympics: When all else fails, just add Brady.<\/p>\n
Brady Tkachuk threw hands late in the first period, then threw an equalizer into the net halfway through the second to rally a frustrated Team USA to a key 6-3 victory over Denmark. Six different Americans scored, a necessary, if erratic, and late-arriving offensive explosion.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s a beast. His energy is contagious,\u201d Team USA head coach Mike Sullivan said after the game. \u201cHe\u2019s so vocal on the bench, in between periods. He’s a positive guy. He drags everybody into the fight, literally and figuratively.\u201d<\/p>\n
But not all wins are victories. This was a sloppy, subpar effort from a United States team that needs to be playing at a much higher level if it hopes to bring home a gold against Canada. When your All-Star squad is getting pushed around by a team with only five current NHL players and prospects on its roster, there\u2019s work to be done between now and the knockout rounds.<\/p>\n
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Brady Tkachuk scored the equalizer and the U.S. men’s hockey team took control to hand Denmark another loss in group play Saturday at the Milan Cortina Olympics.<\/p>\n
(JULIEN DE ROSA via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Sullivan opted to go with Jeremy Swayman in goal, sending Connor Hellebuyck to the bench. The move seemed like a good opportunity to give Swayman some ice time against an inferior opponent. It didn\u2019t quite work out that way.<\/p>\n
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Denmark doesn\u2019t really have any on-paper advantages against the United States, so the Danes pressed their one strength \u2014 a fast, agile frontline \u2014 and did their best to slow down the game by harassing the United States from every angle. The move paid immediate dividends in the opening minutes, as Denmark\u2019s Nick Olesen punched in a goal through a scrum less than two minutes into the game.<\/p>\n
Team USA\u2019s Matt Boldy scored an equalizer on a wraparound less than two minutes later, and for a few minutes, order seemed to be restored. But then Denmark\u2019s Nicholas Jensen fired a shot from the neutral zone, just inside the red line, blowing it right past Swayman for an embarrassingly easy goal. So easy, in fact, that it\u2019s entirely possible Swayman lost the puck against the inexplicably black boards that line the ice in Milan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m color-blind, so it doesn\u2019t matter to me,\u201d Swayman smiled after the game. \u201cIt\u2019s something all of us goalies have to face. We play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so it\u2019s just a challenge we have to embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first period ended with the United States holding a 12-7 shot advantage but a frustrating 2-1 deficit on the scoreboard. Perhaps for that reason, Tkachuk decided to punch Oliver Lauridsen\u2019s helmet off, but the Olympic referees intervened before any real hostilities could ensue.<\/p>\n
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Denmark continued to fluster the United States\u2019 offense, hassling the Americans right through a second-period power play, frustrating Team USA right up until the moment that Tkachuk evened up matters. Tkachuk, off a face-off win by Jack Eichel, rifled a shot right past Danish goalie Mads Sogaard to tie the game at 2 apiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty cool feeling, scoring for your country,\u201d Tkachuk said. \u201cYou get so much energy from this crowd, feel their support. It\u2019s an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
From there, Denmark\u2019s defense turned rotten, allowing a goal by Eichel less than a minute after Tkachuk\u2019s, and then another by Noah Hanifin with less than three minutes remaining in the period. Still, just to remind the United States not to start counting their Free Birds, Danish defenseman Phillip Bruggisser poked through a shot with just three seconds remaining to send the game to the final period at 4-3.<\/p>\n
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The third period was a grind, pure and simple. Despite holding well over a 2:1 shot-on-goal advantage through most of the game, and despite keeping the puck largely on the Danish end, the United States struggled to close out Denmark until Jake Guentzel lasered a one-timer past Sogaard.<\/p>\n
With 8:53 remaining, Danish head coach Mikael Gath swapped in goalkeeper Frederik Dichow, but it didn\u2019t do much good; Jack Hughes added another dagger with just over five minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive them credit, they played really hard and were opportunistic,\u201d Eichel said. \u201cNo game\u2019s going to be easy, we realize that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The victory leaves the United States in position to advance out of the group stage, but questions will persist about the team\u2019s ability to fight through physical opponents and keep from making crucial mental mistakes. Survive and advance is a decent strategy; thrive and advance is a better one.<\/p>\n
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Next up: Germany and Leon Draisaitl in the final game of Group C play. The United States has little time for a turnaround.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a good team,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cSo are we.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Team USA might have it on a formula to get it through the rough stretches of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10115,9833,27,26,10117,10114,10118,9829,8244,10730,10888,10611,7626,10119,5480,9579,76],"class_list":{"0":"post-15133","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denmark","8":"tag-brady-tkachuk","9":"tag-connor-hellebuyck","10":"tag-danmark","11":"tag-denmark","12":"tag-jack-eichel","13":"tag-jack-hughes","14":"tag-jake-guentzel","15":"tag-jeremy-swayman","16":"tag-leon-draisaitl","17":"tag-mads-sogaard","18":"tag-matt-boldy","19":"tag-mike-sullivan","20":"tag-milan-cortina-olympics","21":"tag-noah-hanifin","22":"tag-oliver-lauridsen","23":"tag-team-usa","24":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}