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Ryan Donato Scores Twice as USA Beats Slovakia in Olympics Hockey 2018
February 20, 2018
The United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Winter Olympics men's ice hockey tournament in Pyeongchang, South Korea, following a 5-1 win over Slovakia in its Monday qualification match.
Ryan Donato scored twice to power the U.S. to the comfortable victory.
Following a scoreless opening period, Slovakia came unraveled in the second.
Donato put the United States ahead one minute, 36 seconds into the second period. It was the third time he scored against Slovakia after being responsible for both of the U.S. goals in a 2-1 win in the preliminary round. NBC Olympics shared a replay of the opening tally:
Not even 30 seconds later, Slovakia shot itself in the foot with a pair of penalties. Ladislav Nagy earned two minutes in the box for interference, and Michal Cajkovsky received a match penalty for a hit on Donato.
The United States didn't take long to capitalize on the two-man advantage, as James Wisniewski scored at the 22:20 mark to put his team ahead 2-0.
Cam Atkinson, Wisniewski's former Columbus Blue Jackets teammate, was happy to see the 33-year-old get on the board:
Mark Arcobello scored the United States' third goal at the 33:30 mark.
Although Troy Terry didn't register a goal during the Americans' second-period blitz, the Denver Post's Mark Kiszla singled him out for praise after the University of Denver star assisted on each of the team's three goals:
Peter Ceresnak stopped the bleeding temporarily for Slovakia to make it 3-1, but Garrett Roe answered back with a goal in the third period to put the United States back into a three-goal lead. NBC Olympics offered a second look at the score, which came off a nice assist by Broc Little:
Donato put the finishing touches on the game with his second goal to put the U.S. ahead 5-1 with 3:14 left.
The United States finished with 33 shots on goal, two fewer than it had in its 2-1 win over Slovakia in the preliminary round, illustrating how lethal the Americans were in front of goal.
Team USA will face off with the Czech Republic in the next round at 10:10 p.m. ET Tuesday.
Although Team USA had its best performance of the 2018 Olympics on Monday, it will have its hands full against the Czech Republic. The Czechs were perfect during the preliminary round, including beating Canada 3-2 in a shootout for Canada's first loss in Olympic hockey since 2010.