USA Defeats Norway 6-1 For Second Win, But Still Has Work To Do

After a strong first period and shaky second period, USA pulled away with three late third period goals to defeat Norway 6-1. The Americans outshot Norway 39-11, largely because they’re just a much better team and also partly due to the fact that Norway was very undisciplined, taking just under nine minutes of total penalty time.

The top US offensive players shined in this one, with Brian Rafalski scoring two goals late, Patrick Kane scoring in the second period and Phil Kessel starting things off in the first. Zach Parise, arguably the best pure scorer on the USA squad, also picked up two assists in the victory. Unlike Tuesday against Switzerland where the secondary scoring did all the work, the Americans demonstrated a nice balance today on the score sheet.

Ron Wilson and his aggressive approach with Team

plays to many of the strengths on this team; they are fast, have great scoring ability and are generally smart hockey players. Yet they are also young and inexperienced, as they consistently make minute mistakes that continuously turn into chances on the other end of the ice.Against Switzerland and Norway they controlled the flow of the game, dominated control of the puck and won the first game with by a handy 3-1 score. Yet the glaring mistakes against clearly inferior opponents has many worried how the United States will fare when facing Canada.

It took until the second period for Team Canada to get going against Norway, but the United States are using a powerful first period to get ahead on 2-0 on the Norwegians.

One thing to keep an eye on is how the top line of Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Paul Statsny are still scoreless and seem to be struggling with chemistry. The power play is also taking some time to get going, as the United States failed to take advantage of two power plays in the first period.