United States prevail over Germany to top their group in Olympic hockey action

[p]Captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/matthews-auston/zZVZlD9t/"]Auston ‌Matthews[/a] scored twice, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/werenski-zach/YPq8gg1P/"]Zach Werenski[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/faber-brock/Wf0jDNit/"]Brock Faber[/a] ‌and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thompson-tage/lvRtlzSi/"]Tage Thompson[/a] added goals to top Group C ‌and automatically advance to the quarter-finals. But they missed out on the coveted top seeding on goal difference ‌after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/canada/dSsR389c/"]Canada[/a]'s 10-2 thrashing of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/france/dUzRZitn/"]France[/a] ⁠earlier on Sunday.[/p][p]German goalie [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/franzreb-maximilian/tj99Zkv0/"]‌Maximilian Franzreb[/a] turned away 14 shots before defenceman Werenski ​ended the U.S. frustration, sending in a wrist shot with less than 10 seconds left ​before the first intermission off an assist from Matthews.[/p][p]Fresh off the penalty kill, the U.S. doubled ⁠their lead as ​Matthews slipped a rebound through the legs of Franzreb on a power play [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/hockey/germany-vgQVYBeh/usa-GYgp4SO3/?mid=M17KVHfA"]early in the second period.[/a][/p][embed guid="2c98c530-d84b-45ff-a9e3-1d694937ad59" url="https://x.com/usahockey/status/2023166579643396268?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Defenceman Faber sent a slap shot in off an ‌assist from each of the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tkachuk-matthew/fcgSUij4/"]Tkachuk[/a] brothers, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tkachuk-brady/dvZapuEC/"]Brady[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/boldy-matthew/Uo8KxuyO/"]Matthew[/a], putting the Americans up 3-0 heading into the second break.[/p][p]The Americans never took their foot off the gas, as the towering Thompson rifled in a slap shot two minutes into the third and Matthews tapped in his second goal. The overwhelmingly pro-German crowd, which included retired tennis ‌champion [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/borisevich-alexander/SIkdcDOm/"]Boris Becker[/a], got a bit of consolation ​when alternate captain [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stutzle-tim/fe0NyMwd/"]Tim Stutzle[/a] got a score ‌on the board.[/p][p]Canada and the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/GYgp4SO3/"]United States[/a] are joined in the quarter-finals by surprise Group B winners [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/slovakia/ruzLVmAN/"]Slovakia[/a] and the next-best overall team, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/finland/rRWMzYQu/"]Finland[/a]. The remaining teams, including perennial contenders [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/vBLjQRXp/"]Sweden[/a], ⁠compete in a ⁠single-elimination qualification playoff beginning ‌on Tuesday.[/p]