After being upset by Germany in their first game at the 2017 World Championships, the United States rebounded on Sunday with what turned out to be a pretty convincing 7-2 win over Denmark.
Leading the way for the United States on Sunday was 18-year-old forward Clayton Keller, the Arizona Coyotes’ first-round draft pick in 2016.
Keller, the youngest player on the Team USA roster, recorded a hat trick in the win and was named their player of the game.
Keller is coming off of a tremendous debut season at Boston University that saw him score 21 goals and add 24 assists (leading the team in every major offensive category) in only 31 games. He figures to be a huge part of the Coyotes’ rebuild and should be one of their core players in the coming seasons.
Along with Keller’s big day, New York Islanders forward Anders Lee recorded a pair of goals in the win, while goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 out of 25 shots in the win. Hellebuyk needed to be sharp early on as Denmark was able to keep the game close through first 30 minutes and generate some high quality chances. But the United States finally started to pull away mid-way through the second period.
Along with Keller and Lee, Brock Nelson and Johnny Gaudreau also scored in the win for the United States.