Galchenyuk goal highlights strong first period for U.S.

United States coach Phil Housley couldn't ask for much more from his team in the first period of its World Junior Championship opener against Germany.

The U.S. scored three times in the first 10 minutes, took just one penalty and kept Germany without a shot for more than 13 minutes.

Sean Kuraly opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game, and Jacob Trouba made it 2-0 at 8:30 with a shot from the point through traffic.

Alex Galchenyuk scored the prettiest goal of the game, and maybe of the tournament so far. The Montreal Canadiens prospect pulled the puck off the wall on the left side in the Germany end, curled back to the blue line, and when no German skaters tried to stop him, skated into the slot and fired a shot that beat Germany goalie Marvin Cupper over his glove at 9:54.

Germany didn't get its first shot until 6:51 was left in the first.

About the only thing the U.S. didn't do was score on the power play, going 0-for-3, but they did generate a number of quality chances.

Back with more after the second period.

Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @NHLAdamK