Team USA is heading to the quarterfinal of the IIHF World Championship.
Thanks to a Dylan Samberg overtime goal, the United States beat Sweden 4-3 on Tuesday to complete the round robin portion of the tournament with a perfect 6-1-0-0 record and teeing up a matchup with Czechia, as the quarterfinal round begins on Thursday.
The Americans' lone overtime win kept the team out of the prestigious 7-0-0-0 territory, but it did manage to accrue 20 of a possible 21 points through its seven games (two points awarded for overtime victories).
Although finishing second to Sweden (7) with eight goals allowed through the preliminary round, USA does lead the tournament in goals-for with 34, or 4.86 goals scored per game.
And officially, it was the the first time that the United States had concluded the round robin with victories in all seven games played.
Sealing the deal for the Americans was the Jets' rookie defenceman Samberg, who potted the overtime winner on his first goal of the tournament, and first three-on-three overtime goal that he can remember scoring.
"It's been a while," Samberg laughed post-game. "I was kind of surprised when my name came up for that one, but I just talked with (Scott) Perunovich and he just told me 'keep moving your feet and you'll be fine'."
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound blueliner put up two goals, eight points, 25 penalty minutes and a +10 rating in 63 games in his first full season with the Jets last year.
Having surrendered a 3-1 lead late in the third period to the Swedes, USA walked things off thanks to Samberg's tally, which came just 1:37 into the extra period. It was the third point of the tournament for the 24-year-old Minnesota product. Samberg also led all U.S. players in icetime with 20:22 total time on ice in the win.
The Americans outshot Sweden 43-26 in the game, as Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Casey DeSmith got the better of Lars Johansson, opposite him.
USA almost pulled ahead 4-1 in the early stages of the third period, but a potential Matt Coronato rebound goal was called back thanks to a Coach's Challenge for offside. Sweden stormed back, sending the game to overtime, to which Samberg ripped home a perfectly-placed shot off a Carter Mazur setup pass.
"It was a great play by Mazur there, we're just moving around and kept moving our feet," Samberg added. "He found some space behind the net and found me wide open in front. I just closed my eyes and shot and it went in, so it was good."
Samberg and his mates will now face off against Czechia on Thursday at 8:20 AM central time on TSN.