U.S. rallies to beat Slovakia in World Juniors opener

Derek Stepan celebrated being named captain of the U.S. National Junior Team with a three-point game as the U.S. won its opener at the 2010 World Junior Championship, rallying to defeat Slovakia 7-3 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
 
Stepan, a New York Rangers prospect, scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and also set up two others. Jerry D'Amigo, Danny Kristo and John Carlson had a goal and an assist each, and Jeremy Morin, Matt Donovan and Jordan Schroeder also scored for the U.S., which overcame an early 2-0 deficit.
 
Jakub Gasparovic, Martin Bakos and Richard Panik scored for Slovakia, and Radoslav Illo had a pair of assists.
 
A pair of penalties put the U.S. behind 2-0 just 5:33 into the game. Jason Zucker drilled Slovakia's Martin Stajnoch with a high hit as the Slovak defenseman was bringing the puck out of his own end. Stajnoch was cut badly and was taken to the hospital, and a five-minute major and game misconduct was assessed -- although the referees erroneously gave the penalty to Tyler Johnson.
 
Gasparovic scored on the faceoff following the penalty when his shot trickled through goalie Mike Lee. Luke Walker's high-sticking penalty later put the U.S. down two men, and Bakos made the U.S. pay. On the faceoff following the whistle on Walker, Lee stopped Illo's shot, but left a juicy rebound that Bakos knocked home.
 
The U.S. started to turn things around as the period wore on, however, and got on the board when Stepan won an offensive-zone draw back to Carlson, who fired a shot from the point through traffic that beat Slovak goalie Marek Ciliak at 9:34.
 
"Character says it all," said U.S. coach Dean Blais. "Down 2-0 with the five-minute major, the guys didn't panic. They worked hard. The first goal was huge, kept us in the game."
 
After killing off the final minute of a penalty called late in the first, the U.S. tied the game 2:50 into the second period on a great effort by Morin. He pulled the puck off the wall behind the Slovakia net, cut in front, almost lost the puck, but recovered to score and get the Americans even.
 
Moments later, the U.S. took its first lead when Stepan one-timed Carlson's pass from above the circles off Ciliak's glove and into the net at 5:39.
 
Donovan made it 4-2 with a power-play goal. Cam Fowler fed a pass to Chris Kreider who was cutting down the middle of the ice. Ciliak stopped Kreider's chance, but Donovan pounced on the rebound at 6:36.
 
Panik scored a power-play goal to make it 4-3 at 13:14. Panik positioned himself on the goal line and caught Donovan looking the wrong way on a pass by Michal Siska.
 
The U.S. got its two-goal lead back 30 seconds later. John Ramage made a great play to hold the puck at Slovakia's blue line. The puck rolled to Stepan, who made a beautiful centering pass to Kristo. He tipped it over Ciliak to make it 5-3.
 
Kyle Palmieri's strong forechecking caused a loose puck to bounce into the crease, and Schroeder tapped it in 58 seconds into the third period to make it 6-3. D'Amigo finished the scoring when he cut into the Slovakia end, dropped a pass to Kristo and drove the net. Kristo carried the puck deep and passed back to D'Amigo, who tipped the puck past Ciliak at 6:34.
 
In other games on the first day of action, Canada routed Latvia 16-0, Sweden blew out the Czech Republic 10-1 and Russia topped Austria 5-2.
 
Canada opened its quest for a sixth straight WJC gold medal with the biggest shutout win in team history. Gabriel Bourque, a Nashville Predators prospect, had 3 goals and 4 assists in the other game played at Saskatoon. The 7 points tied a Canadian single-game WJC record. Linemates Patrice Cormier had 2 goals and 2 assists and Brandon Kozun had 2 goals and 3 assists. Canada outshot Latvia 66-10.
 
Sweden got goals from nine different players as the 2008 and '09 silver medalists opened with a victory at the Brandt Center in Regina, where Group B is playing.
 
In the other Group B game, Russia scored three times in a 5:22 span late in first period to break open a 1-1 game. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice, and New York Islanders prospect Kirill Petrov had a goal and a pair of assists.
 
Contact Adam Kimelman at [email protected]