Behind a 27-save performance Thursday night from Spencer Knight (Boston College) and a goal and two assists from Trevor Zegras (Boston University), the U.S. National Junior Team earned its third straight shutout with a 4-0 victory over Sweden in its final preliminary round game of the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship in Edmonton to earn first place in Group B.
Through the preliminary round, Zegras leads the tournament with 13 points (six goals, seven assists).
“I’m very proud of the way that we came back in this tournament from losing our first game, to then win our group is a good accomplishment,” said Team USA coach Nate Leaman (Providence) in a statement. “I think we continue to be a disciplined team which has been very important to our success and now the tournament begins. We have to reset our mindset, we can’t live in the past of the success we’ve had, and we need to get ready for the second phase of the tournament.”
Drew Helleson (Boston College), Ryan Johnson (Minnesota) and Alex Turcotte (Wisconsin) also scored for Team USA.
The U.S. will now face Slovakia on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the tournament live on NHL Network. Game time is set for 10:30 p.m. EST.
