U.S. Defeats Canada, 4-1, in Final World Juniors Prelim Contest

Hutson did give the U.S. the lead on its first power-play opportunity as he fired a shot from between the circles that found the back of the net at 13:02. Cole Eiserman (Newburyport, Mass./Boston University) assisted on the play.

Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass./Boston College) nearly gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead late in the period, but his shot from the slot hit the short-side post.

Augustine sprawled to make a pair of crucial saves at the 7:06 mark of the second frame with Canada on the power play to maintain the U.S. lead and stopped 15 total shots in the frame.

The scored remained 1-0 in favor of the U.S. through 40 minutes of play, despite 28 combined shots from the teams in the middle stanza.

Bradly Nadeau scored on the power play at 1:58 of the third to tie the game, but just 2:24 later, Danny Nelson (Maple Grove, Minn./University of Notre Dame) put the U.S. ahead for good as he fired one home from the slot on the power play after a pass from Hutson.

Eiserman added to the U.S. advantage at 13:21 with his team’s third power-play goal of the night. Leonard capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal to account for the 4-1 final score.

The U.S. National Junior Team will face Switzerland in the quarterfinals Thursday (Jan. 2) at 2:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on NHL Network.

NOTES: Trey Augustine was named U.S. Player of the Game … Canada outshot Team USA, 39-28 … The U.S. was 3-for-7 on the power play, while Canada was 1-for-3 … The U.S. won its preliminary round pool in the IIHF World Junior Championship for the fifth-straight year.