MILAN — The U.S. will take the No. 2 into the quarterfinals of the mens’ hockey tournament of the Milan-Cortina Olympics after beating Germany 5-1 on Sunday to finish group play unbeaten.
The Americans’ opponent in the final eight will be determined in a four-game qualification round Tuesday. Canada, also unbeaten, thrashed France 10-2 earlier in the day, will take the top seed into the quarterfinals by virtue of its +17 goal differential.
The U.S. got two scores Sunday from Auston Matthews and single goals from Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson. Germany’s only score came from Tim Stutzle of the Ottawa Senators, his fourth of the Olympics, with less than nine minutes to play.
The Americans outshot Germany 13-3 during the first 16 minutes, but a combination of poor puck handling and sloppy play in front of the net kept them off the scoreboard until Werenski, a defenseman with the Columbus Blue Jackets, took a pass from Matthews in the center of the right circle, stepped up and drilled a wrister past goalie Maximilian Franzreb nine seconds before the first intermission.
The U.S. thought it had a goal moments earlier when Vegas Golden Knights’ forward Jack Eichel drove the puck from the top of the left circle though a crowd and into the back of the net. But the officials ruled the play had been whistled dead before the shot.
Matthews, the Toronto Maples Leafs’ captain, doubled the advantage 3:25 into the second period, poking the rebound of a Quinn Hughes’ shot by Franzreb for his second power-play goal of the Olympics.
Faber, who plays in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild, made it 3-0 with less than 2:30 left in the second period, playing the puck off the boards near the blue line and flicking it on goal where Eichel got a stick up in front of Franzreb, distracting the goalie as he reached up unsuccessfully to glove the puck.
Thompson, of the Buffalo Sabres, and Matthews closed out the scoring for the U.S. with goals less than five minutes apart into the final period.
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