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USA edges Slovakia in men's hockey 2-1 at 2018 Winter Olympics

The Americans face the Olympic Athletes from Russia on Saturday.
Ryan Donato #16, Mark Arcobello #26 and Chris Bourque #17 of the United States celebrate after Donato scores against Slovakia during the Men's Ice Hockey Preliminary Round Group B game on February 16, 2018.

Harvard’s Ryan Donato, son of former NHL player Ted Donato, scored a pair of power play goals to spark the U.S. men’s hockey team to a 2-1 win against Slovakia.

If Russia, or the Olympic Athletes from Russia as they are known here, defeats Slovenia later Friday, the Americans (1-0-1) will be leading their pool.

The winner of the three groups, plus the team with the best second-place record automatically qualifies for the quarterfinals. The others must win a play-in game to reach the quarterfinals. Teams receive three points for regulation wins, two points for wins in overtime/shootout and one point for an overtime/shootout loss.

Using mostly the same players, Slovakia defeated the USA 2-1 at the Deutschland Cup in November.

A Boston Bruins’ draft pick, Donato scored at 7:10 of the first period to give USA a 1-0 lead. USA goalie Ryan Zapolski gave up a bad goal to Andrej Kudrna to tie the game 25 seconds later. A low-percentage shot, from a poor angle, leaked through Zapolski who is top goalie in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Donato’s game-winner came early in the third. He spun with the puck in front of the net, and tucked it through goalie Jan Laco’s pads.

The Americans face the Olympic Athletes from Russia on Saturday.

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