(WGR Sports Radio 550) - Saturday was a roller coaster for Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson and Team USA at the 2025 World Championship in Denmark.
Thompson had a goal and an assist to help the Americans get out to a 3-0 lead over Germany, but in the second period, the Germans scored three goals in 6:48 on goaltender Joey Daccord (Seattle Kraken) to make it 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Daccord’s backup in Seattle, Philipp Grubauer, had to leave the net in the third period due to injury, though, and Conor Garland (Vancouver Canucks) was set up by U.S. captain Clayton Keller (Utah Mammoth) for a power play goal against Mathias Niederberger for the game-winning goal.
The U.S. went on to score the final three goals of the game to win, 6-3.
Niederberger spent a very brief time in North America, playing in the 2013-14 season for the AHL's Manchester Monarchs (six games) and the ECHL's Ontario Reign (nine games). The two years before that, he played junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League for the Barrie Colts.
Germany’s captain Moritz Seider (Detroit Red Wings) took an early roughing penalty, and Thompson ripped one from his office in the left circle for his fourth goal in two games.
The forward also had a nice rush up ice, dishing off to Drew O’Connor (Canucks) to make the score 3-0 for the U.S. in the first period.
Thompson had no goals and one assist in the first three games of the tournament, but has four goals and five points in his last two games. His four goals now leads Team USA, and is fourth in the tournament.
The 27-year-old played 19:58 on Saturday and had seven shots on goal.
Logan Cooley (Mammoth) and Keller both had big games to the U.S. on Saturday. Cooley had a goal and an assist to give him seven points on the tournament. Keller had a goal and two assists, and also has seven points, as does Garland.
Taking Thompson off the top line with Keller and Cooley and replacing him with Garland has seemed to get all four players going.
Taking a look at the Group B standings immediately after the game, Team USA is in third place with a record of 3-1-0-1 for 11 points. Czechia is 3-1-0-0 for 11 points, while Switzerland is 4-0-1-0 for 13 points.
The problem for the Swiss is an injury to center Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils) has him out for the rest of the tournament.
Team USA is next in action again Sunday against Kazakhstan.