Hayes goes pointless in Americans' tournament debut; Kessel scratched in opener; St. Louis grown Tkachuk, Kunin also part of USA
Kevin Hayes and Team USA got off on the wrong foot in their opener against Sweden on Friday.
USA fell 5-2 against the Swedes in the opener for both sides at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, played at Ostrava Arena in Ostrava, Czechia.
Hayes had one shot on goal and was a minus-1 in 10:48 of ice time centering the fourth line with Michael Eyssimont (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Chesterfield, Mo. native Luke Kunin (San Jose Sharks), who had one shot and was a minus-1 in 10:43.
Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa Senators), son of former Blue Keith Tkachuk, did not fare so well either. In 15:20 of ice time, the USA captain was a minus-3 but had four shots on goal.
Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Brock Nelson (New York Islanders) scored goals for USA; Joel Eriksson Ek (Minnesota Wild) led Sweden with two goals and an assist, while Victor Hedman (Lightning) and Marcus Johansson (Wild) each had a goal and an assist.
Team USA's next game is Saturday at 1:20 p.m. (CT) in group play against Germany, a 6-4 upset winner against Slovakia on Friday.
Blues players Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko and Joel Hofer, playing for Canada, and Blues assistant coach Steve Ott, part of Canada's coaching staff, make their World Championship debut on Saturday at 5:20 a.m. (CT) against Great Britain.
