Rule puts McDavid on bench for shootout

HERNING, DENMARK — Cam Atkinson scored the shootout winner to give the United States a 5-4 win over Canada on Friday in the opening game of the 2018 world hockey championship.

Atkinson’s second goal of the extra session gave the U.S. a 2-1 edge midway through the sixth round. Jordan Eberle had a chance to tie for Canada, but he couldn’t beat American goalie Keith Kinkaid.

Canada captain Connor McDavid was ineligible for the shootout after taking a penalty late in overtime.

Canada showed plenty of speed and skill but had to come back from two one-goal deficits to force overtime before falling in the shootout. The Canadians outshot the U.S. 44-24 through 65 minutes at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark.

Canada held the early edge in play and jumped out to a 2-0 firstperiod lead on goals from PierreLuc Dubois and Ryan O’Reilly. But the Americans stuck with their game plan and found a way to exploit Darcy Kuemper, who struggled with shots to his blocker side.

Anders Lee got the U.S. on the board with a high shot to Kuemper’s blocker side with 6:01 to play in the first before Dylan Larkin and Johnny Gaudreau converted to give the Americans a 3-2 lead by the midway mark of the period.

After being foiled on two breakaways earlier in the game, Anthony Beauvillier tied the game for Canada when he converted a rebound off an Aaron Ekblad shot from the blue line with 2:07 left in the second.

Larkin scored his second of the game at the 3:27 mark of the third, using his speed to create space before firing a soft shot low to the blocker side.

The Americans controlled play in the third period outshooting Canada 12-9, but the Canadians forced overtime with 9:12 left to play in regulation. McDavid picked up his first point of the tournament when he fed Colton Parayko in the slot, and the defenceman first a shot through Kinkaid’s pads.

In a game that saw just six penalties, a late boarding call on Pierre-Luc Dubois with four minutes left in regulation served up a golden opportunity for the Americans to earn the win, but Kuemper foiled Will Butcher’s strong shot from the point.

In overtime, the Canadian trio of McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Aaron Ekblad — all first-overall draft picks — controlled play whenever they were on the ice. Blake Coleman took a holding penalty in the extra frame to set up a 4-on-3 power play, but the Canadians couldn’t capitalize.

McDavid tripped Johnny Gaudreau to foil a scoring chance 4:43 into overtime. Canada killed off the brief power play but lost McDavid’s services for the shootout.

Atkinson and Eberle traded shootout goals before Atkinson won it for the United States.

In Group A action on Friday in Copenhagen, Russia beat France 7-0.