Johnny Gaudreau Breaks American Career Points and Assists Records In 10-1 Victory
Boldy records six points, while Tkachuk posts a hat trick
OSTRAVA, Czechia – Johnny Gaudreau (Salem, N.J./Columbus Blue Jackets) broke the all-time American career points and assists records in the men’s world championship here today with his five-point outing as the U.S. Men’s National Team topped Kazakhstan 10-1 in preliminary round play of the 2024 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
Both previous marks were held by Patrick Kane.
“We continue to move forward as a group and I like how committed we were to playing the way we need to play to be successful as we head down the home stretch of the world championship,” said John Hynes (Warwick, R.I.) head coach of the 2024 U.S. Men’s National Team. “We’ll look forward to playing Latvia on Tuesday and that’s our sole focus.”
The U.S. jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 4:37 into the game. A Luke Hughes (Canton, Ohio/New Jersey Devils) outlet pass from inside the defensive blue line found Brock Nelson (Warroad, Minn./New York Islanders) cross-ice through the neutral zone, and after his initial shot hit the far post, a streaking Matt Boldy (Mills, Mass./Minnesota Wild) was there to put the rebound in.
Brady Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Ottawa Senators) doubled Team USA’s lead on a power play at 7:16 in the first, tipping in a one-timer from the center point from Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Columbus Blue Jackets). Gaudreau picked up the secondary assist on the play.
With 3:50 remaining in the first period, Nelson put home the rebound of a Jake Sanderson (Whitefish, Mont./Ottawa Senators) shot from the center point to put the U.S. ahead 3-0. The goal marked Nelson’s 19th all-time men’s worlds score, tying him with Russell Johnson as the leading all-time American goal scorer in the world championship.
Tkachuk added his second of the game in the waning minutes of the first, also on a power play, cleaning up a rebound off a Werenski shot from Gaudreau to give Team USA a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
The U.S. scored twice in the opening 3:32 of the middle frame to extend it lead. Gavin Brindley (Estero, Fla./Columbus Blue Jackets) tallied his first career men’s worlds goal, pushing the puck home from the crease after a point shot from Matthew Kessel (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./St. Louis Blues) at 1:39. Boldy then tallied his second of the day, this time on a power play, with Gaudreau picking up his third assist of the game.
Luke Kunin (Chesterfield, Mo./San Jose Sharks) recorded his first goal of the tournament, a snipe from the high slot off a backhand feed from Boldy at 11:04 to give Team USA a 7-0 advantage after 40 minutes.
Tkachuk recorded his hat trick goal on the power play at 5:21 of the third. Boldy and Gaudreau tallied the assists. With the assist, Gaudreau set a new American career assists mark with his 30th all-time helper.
Just 21 seconds later, Kevin Hayes (Dorchester, Mass./St. Louis Blues) got in on the action, tipping in a point shot from Jeff Petry (Ann Arbor, Mich./Detroit Red Wings) to put the U.S. ahead 9-0.
Kazakhstan broke the shutout with 13:03 left in the game.
Gaudreau scored the final goal of the game with 9:54 left in the contest to set the all-time career American points record in the men’s world with his 43rd point. Boldy picked up an assist, his sixth point of the game.
Alex Nedeljkovic (Parma, Ohio/Pittsburgh Penguins) recorded 13 saves in net to pick up the victory.
Team USA closes out preliminary round play against Latvia on Tuesday (May 21). Puck drop is set for 4:20 p.m. local time (10:20 a.m. ET) and can be viewed live on NHL Network.
NOTES: Johnny Gaudreau was named the U.S. Player of the Game … The U.S. outshot Kazakhstan, 58-14 … Team USA was 4-7 on the power play, while Kazakhstan was 0-2 … Twelve different players tallied points for Team USA, with six recording multi-point games … Matt Boldy tallied six points (2G, 4A), Johnny Gaudreau had five points (1G, 4A), Brady Tkachuk recorded four points (3G, 1A) and Zach Werenski added three points (3A).
For more information contact Dave Fischer ([email protected]/719.684.5940)