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USA Falls 3-0 To Team Europe In World Cup Opener
- Updated: September 18, 2016
TORONTO – As Nino Niederreiter stood above the right circle in his defensive zone, and surveyed his surroundings, Patrick Kane darted in from the opposite point.
Kane took a shoot that was stopped by Jaroslav Halak, and seconds later, again circled the offensive zone with the puck on his stick.
This time, Kane had the puck poked off his stick by Tobias Rieder, pushing the play into open pastures, as Leon Draisaitl, and Niederreiter took off.
A 2-on-0 and give-and-go later, and Niederreiter had the primary assist on a Draisaitl goal that doubled Team Europe’s lead to 2-0.
“It was a good play by [Tobias Rieder] to chip it up the wall, and then it was a nice play by Nino,” Draisaitl said.
In a game many pegged the United States as the favorite, Team Europe defeated the Americans 3-0 in the opening game of the 2016 World Cup.
Niederreiter, who played 10 shifts and logged 6:55 of ice time for Team Europe, made the most of his usage. In addition to the assist, his line with Draisaitl and Rieder held its own, a virtual was possession-wise, but coming up with a goal in a key moment to make it 2-0.
“Within the room, we know what we’re capable of,” Draisaitl said. “From the outside, we got stumped up as the underdog here. We all understand that, but at the same time, we have some really good players on our team as well. A lot of experience. A big win for us.”
It puts Europe atop Group A for the moment, and the United States in a difficult spot, next facing tournament-favorite Canada.
Starting 0-2 would likely mean not advancing to the quarterfinal round.
“We don’t really have much of a choice now,” Zach Parise said. “I would expect us to respond with a really good game. Again, we’ve talked about it earlier, you want to get better each game as this tournament goes on, so the next one is going to be a real test for us. We have to continue to get better, and we have to have a really good effort next game.”
Key Moment: It appeared the …
