By Andrew Podnieks
Mytischi, Russia --The USA continued its march into the quarter-finals with a solid 3-0 victory over a stubborn German team Saturday afternoon. Both goals came off the stick of DU Alum Paul Stastny, who seems to be getting stronger and more confident with every game he plays. He also added an assist. John Grahame got the shutout for the Americans.
The win gives the USA nine points in Group F. The Germans are stalled at three, and their fate depends on the performance of pointless Belarus, which faces Slovakia on Sunday and then Germany on Monday. Canada also has nine points.
"It doesn't matter that I got the goals. If they can help the team win, and I think it did, we'll take it," Stastny said humbly of his contributions. "We were expecting [the Germans] would play well. The Czechs beat us and they beat the Czechs."
"I thought we played very well, and with a couple of breaks it could have turned out differently," German goalie Dimitri Patzold said.
It didn't take long for the German dream of another upset to get a dose of reality. Erik Cole sent a quick shot toward the goal and Stastny made a nice tip past Patzold at 2:33 on the power play to stake the Americans to the early one-goal lead.
"It was a nice power play," Stastny said. "We kept moving the puck around. Cole was in the slot and I was coming across, and he made a nice shot for me to tip in. It was a nice play."
The Americans thought they had gone up by two goals later in the period, but Chris Clark received an interference penalty just as a point shot flew past Patzold into the net. Less than a minute later, the Germans also had a goal disallowed by referee Jyri Petteri Ronn when a shot was bobbled by Grahame in the American nets. Ronn lost sight of the puck, even though it was loose to the back side, and when the Germans pushed it over the goal line, it was called off.
"It was bad timing for us, that's for sure, not to get a goal," Patzold said.
The Americans had another close call on a power play early in the second when Tyler Arnason had an open net. His quick shot in the slow was stopped by defenceman Sebastian Osterloh in the crease. The teams exchanged several good scoring chances in the second, and the game finally had its second legitimate goal with 4:34 left in the middle frame. Erik Cole got the puck to Stastny in front, and after a couple of tries he jammed the puck through Patzold's paraphernalia and into the net for a 2-0 USA lead.
"We kept working," Stastny said. "I jusy gave the puck to Cole and he fed me in front and I got my own rebound. It was a bad angle, but I think it hit the goalie and went in."
At 3:31 of the third, Stastny got his third point of the game with a fine play behind the German net. He took a hit to make a pass to Cole, and Cole put it out front to Lee Stempniak, who made no mistake.
The Germans had their best chances midway through the final period. With the puck loose in the crease, Christoph Ullmann dove to get a stick on the puck, but Grahame swatted the puck away in the nick of time. Moments later, Daniel Kreutzer beat Grahame with a shot from the slot, but it rang off the post and stayed out.
Germany next plays Belarus on Monday afternoon while the Americans play Canada in a first-place showdown later that same day.
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