Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The American men dominated Latvia during their first game of the preliminary round of Olympic hockey in Milan, Italy, on Thursday, besting the Latvians 5-1 with two goals from Brock Nelson.
Five Americans recorded two-point nights, including Nelson, Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk and brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 17 of 18 shots in the win. Latvian goaltender and Columbus Blue Jackets' property Elvis Merzlikins was pulled after letting in four goals on 32 shots in 40 minutes of play, and Arturs Silovs allowed one goal on the six shots he faced in the final frame.
"We got a lot of active D-men back there that can join the rush and attack in waves, and, you know, I thought we were doing that for the whole 60 [minutes] there," Nelson told reporters following the game.
"Obviously, you know, their [goaltender] was really good and kept it in for a while there, but we knew if we just stuck with our game plan it would eventually break."
