GANGNEUNG, South Korea (Reuters) - Ryan Donato scored twice to help the United States ease to a 5-1 win over Slovakia and book a spot in the men’s Olympic ice hockey quarter-finals on Tuesday.
After a scoreless first period, the U.S. raced clear with three goals in the second as Donato set the ball rolling when he snapped in a loose puck past goaltender Jan Laco after Troy Terry’s errant shot had come back off the boards.
Less then a minute later, Donato took a check to the head from Michal Cajkovsky, who was given a five-minute major penalty and a match suspension, after Ladislav Nagy had interfered with U.S. goaltender Ryan Zapolski to draw a two-minute penalty.
On the ensuing two-man advantage, U.S. defenseman James Wisniewski scored from the left circle with a low slap shot, his trademark talent and the main reason why coach Tony Granato had selected the ex-NHL player on the U.S. team.
The U.S. made it 3-0 when Mark Arcobello, crossing into the low slot, one-timed a feed from Terry from behind the Slovak net. Terry, a stand-out at the University of Denver, assisted on all three U.S. second period goals.
The Slovaks got on the scoreboard later in the period with a power-play goal when Jordan Greenway was in the penalty box for slashing, Peter Ceresnak’s slap shot from the point deflected by a U.S. stick and past a stranded Zapolski.
Slovakia’s comeback attempt ended there, however, as Garrett Roe got his first Olympic goal midway through the third period to reestablish a three-goal cushion for the Americans.
Donato got his second goal of the game, and fourth of the tournament to top all U.S. scorers, late in the third period on a power-play, firing a wrist shot that beat Laco just inside the near post to complete the scoring.
The Harvard stand-out also scored twice against Slovakia in their first meeting in pool play.
The victory set up a quarter-final showdown against the Czech Republic, who were undefeated in pool play, on Wednesday, while Slovakia were eliminated from the tournament.
Reporting By Dan Burns; Editing by John O'Brien