Team USA, Canada Roll To Impressive Wins At World Championships

Team USA, fortified by Flyers’ DNA, and Canada remained undefeated in the World Championships on Wednesday.

Flyers forward Scott Laughton had an assist as Canada defeated Kazakhstan, 5-1. Laughton took 19 shifts and had 14:04 of ice time. Laughton has one goal and one assist and is plus-4 in the tournament.

The Canadians are 3-0-1 (three victories, one shootout victory) and in first place in Group B. Canada’s next game will be against second-place Switzerland (3-0) at 9:20 a.m. (Philadelphia time) Saturday. The game will be shown on NHL Network.

Team USA defeated Austria, 4-1. Former Flyer Patrick Brown had an assist on the final goal by Nick Perbix — whose given first name is “Nicklaus”. Top Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier, who scored goals in the first two games, was held off the scoreboard against Austria. He had 18 shifts for 14:25 of ice time.

The game report said Gauthier had “a great chance” to score in the second period but was stopped by Austria goalie Bernhard Starkbaum. Gauthier is a plus-5 for the tournament.

“We started slow but got better as the game moved along,” said Team USA coach David Quinn, a former New York Rangers coach.

“It’s a difficult tournament. Every game is tough. We’ve had a great start but need to continue to get better to accomplish our ultimate goal of bringing home gold.”

Flyers defenseman Ronnie Attard did not play. Brown had 16 shifts for 11:49 of ice time.

Team USA is 4-0 and in first place in Group A. The Americans next play second-place Denmark (2-1-0) at 5:20 a.m. (Philadelphia time) Saturday. The game will be shown on NHL Network.

A Team USA-Canada showdown could happen. The quarterfinals are May 25 and the semifinals are May 27. The gold-medal game and bronze-medal game are May 28.

Flyers, in case you missed it:

Boston College signee Ryan Leonard is often linked to the Flyers in mock drafts.

Flyers president of hockey operations Keith Jones returns to the TNT booth tonight for the Eastern Conference finals between Carolina and Florida.

The Carolina-Florida series has a heavy Flyers connection.

Around the National Hockey Network:

Florida Hockey Now: Is it the Panthers or Hurricanes? The U? The NFL Panthers? Team names overlap with Carolina and Florida.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Taking a look at Penguins GM candidate John Chayka, who the Flyers considered for their president of hockey operations job.

Detroit Hockey Now: The Red Wings are excited about prospect Carter Mazur, one of Team USA’s stars at the World Championships.

Montreal Hockey Now: The Canadiens have some salary cap flexibility going into the offseason.

Boston Hockey Now: Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm played with a fractured foot in the playoff series loss to the Panthers.

Tonight’s playoff game:

It’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals between Florida and Carolina in Raleigh. Faceoff is 8 p.m. on TNT.