USA Spanks Hungary at the 2016 World Championships

Goals by Nick Foligno, Vince Hinostroza and Dylan Larkin in the second period provided the offensive spark for the United States who now have nine points in Group B play. The Americans offered a balanced attack with four different goal scorers on the day.

Hungary tapped Adam Vay again today and he would not disappoint. In the first period Vay stopped all fifteen of the shots he faced to keep the score tied at zero. With the Hungarian offensive power outage continuing today, it was up to Vay to do all he could to keep his team in it and keep the score respectable. Hungary managed a lone shot in the first. He would go on to stop 32 of 37 shots. Vay has faced 90 shots in two games.

“In the first period, we dominated.” Auston Matthews said. “We had a ton of shots and we limited them to one. We were producing a lot of scoring chances, but their goalie played extremely well. In the end, we kind of broke him down a little bit and were able to get a couple on him.”

Hungary was less than disciplined throughout the game. They gifted Team USA a two-man advantage when Gergo Nagy and Frank Banham were sent off for cross checking and slashing respectively at 13:06. They were able to kill off both penalties but the Americans would pepper Vay with shots throughout.

Foligno put his team on the scoreboard with a goal at 4:37 of the second period. Noah Hanifin broke up an offensive surge by taking the puck away from Andrew Sarauer. Chris Wideman then controlled the puck in his own zone where he saw Foligno far up ice. Wideman thread a pass between two Hungarian defenders in the neutral that sent Foligno on a break where he beat Vay glove side. The goal was scored with fifty seconds remaining on another power play for the Americans.

“I think the first goal broke us a little bit.” Marton Vas said. “We needed some time to regroup after that. It was our mistake again. We’ve just got to minimize our mistakes to have a chance against bigger teams like this. If you make mistakes, these guys are great hockey players, and they’re going to make us pay for it.”

A Hungarian turnover in their zone gave Team USA a 2-0 lead eighteen seconds later. Hinostroza would score off a miscue by Bence Stipsicz. Hudson Fasching got the assist, his first point of the tournament.

Larkin scored an impressive goal on an end-to-end rush that saw him pick up speed through the neutral zone. Once he gained the Hungary zone, he faked out captain Marton Vas and skated past him to a wide angle to the right side of Vay. Larkin found the smallest opening to pop the puck in between Vay’s blocker and body while he hugged the post. Jake McCabe and Connor Murphy picked up assists.

Brock Nelson had a breakaway in the third but could not settle the puck down for a shot. It was Nelson’s first game of the tournament having just flown from North America to help his country’s cause. Nelson played on a line with Hinostroza and Fasching and was +1 in 12:15 of ice time.

“I watched a couple of games.” Nelson said. “It’s a young team with a lot of skill. It’ll be a fun tournament. I think they’re getting better each game. You want to come over and do well.”

USA would add two more in the period, including Foligno’s second of the game at 12:07.

Connor Murphy then scored for the third straing game with a slapshot that squeezed through Vay’s pads and in to make it 5-0.

Istvan Sofron prevented Hungary from being shutout for a second straight game. His goal, coming on the power play, at 17:59 broke a goalless streak that lasted 1:29:59. Sofron was the last player to score for his team in their 6-2 loss to France. Sarauer and Istvan Bartalis assisted.

Hungary is now winless in five games and its ability to stay in the top division of World Championship play very slim.