MILAN — The U.S. goal song — “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd — blared seven times over arena speakers Thursday night. Twice, the celebration was short-lived.
Bouncing back from having a pair of goals wiped out by coach’s challenges, the U.S. opened the Olympics by rolling past Latvia 5-1 in a dominant showcase of some of the country’s best NHL players. Brock Nelson scored twice, four players had two assists apiece, and there was production up and down the lineup.
“We believe in the depth we have,” winger Jake Guentzel said. “There’s good players on every line. That’s just where American hockey is right now.”
After a weird first period with a couple of video reviews and a tying goal by Latvia, the Americans found their groove and for long stretches barely let their opponents have the puck. The U.S. outshot Latvia 38-18 and needed starter Connor Hellebuyck to make only 17 saves.
“I felt like we controlled the play,” center Jack Eichel said. “We’re going to continue to get better every game in this tournament, every period in this tournament. That’s our goal, and it’s a good start for us.”
Elvis Merzlikins was under siege at the other end, and after Nelson’s second goal, he sat in the crease with his head bowed in his lap. An odd-man rush became a version of the Harlem Globetrotters on ice with pass after pass: Jack Hughes to brother Quinn to Matthew Tkachuk, back to Jack and then to Nelson to tap into a half-open net with 11.1 seconds left in the second period.
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“I don’t think there’s much to do,” Merzlikins said. “If that guy wouldn’t score, probably the other guy would score because I felt completely two open guys, and it’s hard to save something like that.”
Brady Tkachuk scored the first U.S. goal of the tournament less than six minutes in, and Tage Thompson roofed a nifty backhander on the power play, making coach Mike Sullivan look smart for putting the 6-foot-6 winger on the loaded top unit. Four goals on 32 shots was enough to chase Merzlikins, who was pulled to start the third for Arturs Silovs.
Captain Auston Matthews welcomed Silovs to the Olympics with a power-play goal, assisted on by Eichel and Quinn Hughes. Each of them had two assists, as did Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Hughes.
“I just think the depth that we have, it showed,” Brady Tkachuk said. “I thought everybody played a great game tonight. You just see the buy-in. You see the buy-in of every line playing the right way.”
The U.S. plays Denmark on Saturday night before wrapping up the preliminary round 24 hours later against Germany.
