ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The difference in Friday's historic outdoor affair was motivation.
U.S. players acknowledged drawing inspiration from the previous night's stunning loss to Slovakia as they rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit against Canada and prevailed 4-3 in a shootout at the World Junior Hockey Championship in the open air at New Era Field.
“(We were) really motivated," Team USA captain Joey Anderson said postgame Friday. "We needed to make sure we came out and put a good foot forward, and showed some resilience, and we did that. We stuck together as a group. That was the biggest part, just making sure we didn’t turn on each other when we got down, and we stuck with it.”
Brady Tkachuk tied the game in the third, and said afterward that the defending gold medalists' surprising letdown one night prior was one they wanted to avoid duplicating.
“That definitely fueled the fire for our team, and you never want that to happen again, and our team bounced back well.”
American forward Kieffer Bellows, who notched a power-play goal in the second period against Canada, made it clear the impetus for Friday's comeback came the moment the final buzzer sounded Thursday.
“Guys were motivated the second that game ended (against Slovakia)," he said after the victory over Canada. "We knew we wanted to bounce back (Friday) and get a win, and I’m very proud of this group of guys. It’s hard to (describe). They’re really special.”
Bellows insisted the U.S. players didn't panic when they trailed by two goals in the final regulation frame.
“That (says) a lot about our group, how close we are as a family. There was never a doubt in whole entire (dressing) room, on the bench, never at any point.”
U.S. head coach Bob Motzko praised his team for coming together in the third period, overtime, and the shootout after their effort in the previous contest.
“That team showed a lot of character today to bounce back from what happened (Thursday night)," he said. "I gave Slovakia a ton of credit (after that game) … but that wasn’t a good showing for us and we needed to rebound. No matter what we did tonight, we played hard.”
Motzko also didn't hesitate when asked if the quick turnaround after the shocking loss was a good thing.
“It was a great thing," he quipped postgame Friday.
On the Canadian side, head coach Dominique Ducharme said they'd use the defeat in a similar way when they complete their own back-to-back with a game against Denmark.
“(If) we win (Saturday), we finish first, so we’ll be in a good position to go into the (medal) round," he said postgame. "We’ll learn from that game (versus the United States), I can promise you that.”
Canada's captain, Dillon Dube, echoed that sentiment.
“Overall, it was tough losing, but it’s just one game of the (preliminary round), and we can build off this," he said. "It’ll make us stronger for when it really counts.”
The U.S. next plays Finland on Sunday, indoors at Buffalo's KeyBank Center, in what will be both teams' final preliminary-round contest. The Americans (1-1-0-1) sit second in Group A with five points through three games, while Canada (2-0-1-0) leads the group with seven points after three contests.
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