USA dominate Slovakia as they prepare for gold medal matchup against Canada

[p]The game is scheduled for Sunday, February 22nd (14:10 CET, 8:10 a.m. Eastern Time). Meanwhile, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/slovakia/ruzLVmAN/"]Slovakia[/a] will take on [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/finland/rRWMzYQu/"]Finland[/a] in the bronze medal match on Saturday, February 21st. [/p][p][b]"I think it's what everyone wanted, this ​match-up in the gold medal game, and I've thought about it a lot," [/b]Larkin said after the game in anticipation for the match against Canada.[/p][embed guid="8c77c248-391d-484e-92fb-979179357e35" url="https://x.com/NHL/status/2024977438808109150?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][h2]Game highlights[/h2][p]Team [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/usa/GYgp4SO3/"]USA[/a] forward [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/larkin-dylan/b1K98MUq/"]Dylan Larkin[/a] got things started for the Americans with his second goal of the Olympics, a game removed from scoring his first-ever Olympic goal when he found the net against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sweden/vBLjQRXp/"]Sweden[/a]. [/p][p]The goal was assisted by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/werenski-zach/YPq8gg1P/"]Zach Werenski[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thompson-tage/lvRtlzSi/"]Tage Thompson[/a], the latter of whom would score the second goal for the Americans. [/p][embed guid="cfff5a00-bed8-4092-9673-ae4c92c9d98b" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024942729709425102?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Thompson scored his third goal of the Olympics to put Team USA up 2-0 with just 41 seconds left in the first period. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/eichel-jack/roOYYdOm/"]Jack Eichel[/a] (4) and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hughes-quinn/M1xKD9sj/"]Quinn Hughes[/a] (6) recorded the assists on the goal that came on Team USA's first power play. Slovakia came out of the period 0-for-2 on the power play themselves, failing to capitalize on opportunity after opportunity. [/p][embed guid="620dd851-4857-40da-846b-311e62229ae4" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024950588543254694?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]The second period would be no different for the U.S. and Slovakia. Team USA would continue to flat-out dominate, scoring three goals, including two that game just 19 seconds apart. [/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hughes-jack/nNIFwLLH/"]Jack Hughes[/a] scored his second goal of the Olympics to put the Americans up 3-0 as Werenski recorded his second assist.[/p][embed guid="79098247-7465-4b1c-91c1-2cf55078f67c" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024961816829256025?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]After assisting Thompson on his earlier goal, Eichel found the net himself on a nonchalant backhander, with both assists being awarded to the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tkachuk-matthew/fcgSUij4/"]Tkachuk[/a] brothers. [/p][p]It was Eichel's second goal of the Olympics, right after Hughes', making it an unreachable comeback for Slovakia as they took a 4-0 lead.[/p][embed guid="0cb59c1b-8021-4c87-a1a8-a2c527d58804" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024962073604591702?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]To rub salt into the wound, Team USA found the net once more to go up 5-0 before the second period ended. [/p][p]Hughes would score his second goal of the game and his third of the Olympics, with Werenski picking up his third assist of the matchup. [/p][p]Heading into the third, the U.S. outshot Slovakia 26-13. Both teams went a combined 0-6 on the powerplay in the second (SVK: 0-2). [/p][embed guid="9243b27a-4824-4f43-b20f-3a59ab435ea0" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024964323139821740?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]It would take until just 15 minutes left in the matchup for Slovakia to get up on the board to make it 5-1. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/montreal-canadiens/nu2G7VWc/"]Montreal Canadiens[/a]' young star [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/slafkovsky-juraj/ATgrbSxq/"]Juraj Slafkovsky[/a] scored his fourth of the Olympics. He would finish the Olympics leading Slovakia in both goals (4) and assists (4), as they fell just short of what would've been their best placement ever in Olympic hockey history (at least a silver). [/p][p]But the U.S. answered with yet another, this time from Brady Tkachuk, taking advantage of his second breakaway after failing on one earlier to make it 6-1.[/p][p]Slovakia would continue to show they were going to fight to the very end after Pavol Regenda scored his third goal at the Olympics to make it 6-2 as the game coasted into its end. They would finish the game going 0-for-5 on the power play. Slovakia's Martin Fehervary assisted on both of their goals.[/p][p]The U.S. and Canada will now have a rematch of last year's 4 Nations Face-Off, in which Canada won 3-2 in overtime.[/p][embed guid="af2011a5-3bdd-49a5-b43e-3df11c8941bf" url="https://x.com/NBCOlympics/status/2024974854391296391?s=20" social-type="twitter" /]