Brian Boyle, who took over as captain for Team USA when Justin Abdelkader went down with an injury earlier in the tournament, said the team strayed away from the game plan.
"Their intensity from the start was probably a little higher than ours," he said. "We were probably in our own heads a little too much too early. We were trying to play a perfect game instead of playing hockey and playing hard. They took it to us for a while and got ahead. We couldn't catch up."
Stars forward Jason Robertson, named a Calder Trophy finalist on Thursday, was held off the scoresheet for just the third time in nine games. The 21-year-old has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the tournament.
The loss is a tough one to stomach for the U.S., who has appeared in 10 semifinals since 1994 at the Men's World Championship and has lost all of them. After living together in a bubble since the third week of May, coming home with a bronze is imperative.
"It's been a long couple weeks," said Boyle. "We wanted this one, but we didn't execute. We can be upset about this, but we have to regroup. We've been here too long. We've sacrificed too much. Guys have played through a lot. Lots of injuries. We've had guys go down that aren't able to play. To medal is a huge thing, so we need to make sure we're ready."
NOTE: Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger served as backup to Cal Petersen. Texas Stars defenseman Ryan Shea dressed for the game but didn't play.
The 2021 IIHF World Championship is taking place in Riga, Latvia. The 16-nation tournament began May 21 and runs through June 6. For complete coverage, click here.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Kyle Shohara is the Digital Manager for DallasStars.com and writes about the Stars/NHL. Follow him on Twitter @kyleshohara.
