Matthews scores twice, Team USA cruises past Team Germany

MILAN -- Captain America powered Team USA to a perfect finish in the preliminary round.

Auston Matthews scored two goals, added an assist, and was a big part of the United States controlling the play throughout a 5-1 win against Team Germany at Santagiulia Arena on Sunday.

The U.S. (3-0-0-0) clinched first place in Group C and an automatic bye into the quarterfinals. It will be the second seed in the single elimination stage, behind Team Canada.

The Canadians also went 3-0-0-0 in Group A and earned the top seed with a plus-17 goal differential. Team USA finished the preliminary round with a plus-11 goal differential.

Zach Werenski, Brock Faber and Tage Thompson also scored, Matthew Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson each had two assists, and Connor Hellebuyck made 23 saves for the Americans, who will next play on Wednesday.

GAMECENTER SUMMARY: USA-Germany

Tim Stutzle scored, and Maximilian Franzreb made 32 saves for Germany (1-0-2-0), which will play in the qualification round on Tuesday. It went 0-for-3 on the power play after going 0-for-4 in a 4-3 loss to Team Latvia on Saturday.

Matthews, the U.S. captain, started his strong night with a cross-ice saucer pass to Werenski, who gave the Americans a 1-0 lead at 19:51 of the first period.

The U.S. kept the puck in the zone after a Germany turnover, and Matthews got it above the left face-off circle after Quinn Hughes went down the wall to keep the play alive. Matthews then found Werenski cutting down from the right point, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman scored with a quick shot through the legs of Germany defenseman Moritz Seider.

The Americans outshot Germany 15-8 in the first period.

Matthews made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 3:25 of the second period. Hughes' shot from the left circle hit Franzreb in the chest, resulting in the puck dropping down to Matthews, who swept it into the net.

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Faber extended the lead to 3-0 at 17:35 of the second when his shot from the right point found its way into the net off the glove of Franzreb, who appeared disrupted by Jack Eichel's attempted to deflect it.

Thompson made it 4-0 at 1:55 of the third period, scoring blocker side with one-timer from inside the blue line off a feed from Dylan Larkin.

Matthews scored his second of the game and third of the tournament at 6:46 to push it to 5-0. He got to the front of the net and deflected Sanderson's backdoor past up and off the crossbar before knocking the rebound in after it landed behind Franzreb.

Stutzle ended Hellebuyck's shutout bid at 11:22, scoring from the left circle with a shot over the goalie's glove for the 5-1 final.