ZURICH (AP) — Defending champion United States bounced back from a loss to Switzerland with a 5-1 victory over tournament newcomer Britain at the ice hockey world championship on Sunday.
Isaac Howard scored twice, Paul Cotter and Mathieu Olivier each had three points and Declan Carlile had a goal and an assist for the Americans. Goaltender Devin Cooley made 18 saves for the U.S. in the preliminary Group A game in Zurich.
Cotter broke the deadlock 13:55 into the Group A game, knocking in the puck from close range.
Nathanael Halbert tied it for Britain midway through the middle period on a power play with a shot through heavy traffic.
Howard restored a 2-1 lead for the Americans with an unassisted goal with 2:59 remaining in the period by exploiting a defensive blunder.
Howard is one of two players on the roster, along with Mason Lohrei, who lifted the trophy last year.
Olivier and Carlile scored 15 seconds apart early in the final period to increase the advantage to 4-1.
Olivier netted a rebound while Carlile scored with a deflected shot from the blue line.
Howard added his second on a power play with 3:49 left.
The Americans next play Finland on Monday. On Tuesday, they will be boosted with the arrival of Florida Panthers forward Matthew Tkachuk, a member of the U.S. gold-winning team at the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Britain, a newcomer to the top division, fell to its second straight defeat.
In another game in the same group, Austria topped Hungary 4-2 to get the second win.
Sweden takes 1st win
Sweden recovered from a 5-3 defeat to Canada in the opening game by routing Denmark 6-2 in Group B in Fribourg in a rematch of last year’s bronze medal game that Sweden also won by the same score.
Raymond Lucas had a goal and two assists to spark the Swedes.
The 18-year-old forward Viggo Bjorck scored on a power play to become the youngest Swedish player to score at the worlds and added an assist. Another 18-year-old rising star for Sweden, Ivar Stenberg, had two assists. The two are among the top prospects for the 2026 NHL daft.
Mattias Ekholm, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jakob Silfverberg and Linus Karlsson also scored for the Swedes.
In Fribourg, Slovakia downed another newcomer, Italy, 4-1 for its second victory at the worlds.
Later Sunday, Norway plays Slovenia in Fribourg and Germany takes on Latvia in Zurich.
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