PRAGUE – Brady Tkachuk scored a goal and added three assists, Cole Caufield scored twice and the United States clinched a playoff-round berth with a 4-1 win over Poland in preliminary round play at the men´s world hockey championships.
Michigan State goalie Trey Augustine stopped 20 shots, including all 11 he faced in a scoreless first period. Michael Kesselring also scored for the Americans, who improved to 3-1-1 and moved into second place in the Group B standings.
John Murray, who has Polish roots and is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, stopped 53 shots, including 34 of the first 36 he faced through two period to keep the score tight. Grzegorz Pasiut scored Poland´s lone goal, briefly cutting the US lead to 3-1 with 13:38 left in the third period.
Poland dropped to 0-4-1 and is in jeopardy of facing relegation, AP reported.
Kesserling, a defenseman for NHL Utah, was set up by Tkachuk on a 3-on-1 rush to open the scoring 9:49 into the second period.
Tkachuk, the US and Ottawa Senators captain, then made it 2-0 with 42 seconds left in the frame on a 2-on-1 break. Murray made the initial stop on Shane Pinto, and the puck got caught up in Tkachuk´s skate and went in as the forward was pushed from behind and crashed into the net.
