Third Period Surge Lifts U.S. Men’s National Team to 3-2 Win Over Germany

Third Period Surge Lifts U.S. Men’s National Team to 3-2 Win Over Germany
Coronato notches game winner; DeSmith makes 30 saves

TAMPERE, Finland – Casey DeSmith (Rochester, N.H.) had 30 saves and Matt Coronato (Greenlawn, N.Y.) scored the game-winner on a power play with 5:10 to go in regulation off a picture-perfect feed from Scott Perunovich (Hibbing, Minn.) to lift the U.S. Men’s National Team to a 3-2 comeback win over Germany here today in its third preliminary round game of the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
The U.S. is 3-0 in the world championship, its best start since 2018.
“That was a gutsy effort and I’m really proud of our guys,” said David Quinn, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “That was our third game in four days against a really good German team.”
The first 20 minutes finished in a scoreless stalemate. Mikey Eyssimont (Littleton, Colo.) nearly gave the U.S. the lead at the 6:30 mark on a partial breakaway, but German netminder Mathias Niederberger was up to the task.
The Germans had an opportunity of their own less than a minute later, but DeSmith foiled the 2-on-1 chance. Finishing with 12 stops in the period, DeSmith also made a save off a chance from Frederik Tiffels who was in alone with just more than five minutes to play in the period.
Defenseman Ronnie Attard (White Lake, Mich.) opened the scoring 5:39 into the middle frame, tallying on a delayed penalty. Eyssimont connected with Attard just below the point and fired a one-timer that deflected into the net off the skate of a German defender. T.J. Tynan (Orland Park, Ill.) picked up an assist as well.
Germany evened things just under five minutes later, lifting the puck off a rebound and past DeSmith, then took a 2-1 lead off a breakaway chance with five seconds to play in the period.
Sean Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass.) tied the game at 5:58 of the third, beating Niederberg short-side after sustained pressure in the Germany zone. Lane Hutson (Chicago, Ill.) gained an assist on the play.
That set the stage for Coronato’s game-winning power play goal with 5:10 to play in the third, which Tynan also earned an assist on.
The U.S. withstood the final 2:08 with the German goal empty and earned three points in the victory.
The U.S. continues preliminary round play in the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship Wednesday (May 17) against Austria with puck drop set for 4:20 p.m. local time/9:20 a.m. ET and the game can be seen live on NHL Network.
NOTES: Casey DeSmith was named U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. was 1-2 on the power play, while Germany was 0-4 … Germany outshot the U.S. by a 32-26 count, though the U.S. outshot Germany 9-7 in the third period … Cutter Gautier had seven shots on goal, the most of any skater in the contest.