Thompson’s goal came with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second period, with assists from Jack Eichel and Quinn Hughes.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tage Thompson scored a power play goal Team USA won its opening men’s hockey game at the Winter Olympics.
The goal by Thompson — who has 30 goals and 29 assists in 57 games for the Buffalo Sabres this season — helped the United States beat Latvia 5-1. It came with 2 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second period, with assists from Jack Eichel and Quinn Hughes.
Team USA dominated much of the game, but there were some frustrating moments during the first 20 minutes, when they hit two posts and had two goals disallowed.
The next game for the United States is against Denmark at 3:10 p.m. Saturday.
Thompson is the second member of the Sabres to take the ice during the Winter Olympics.
Rasmus Dahlin recorded three assists to help lift Team Sweden to a 5-2 victory preliminary play Wednesday at the Winter Olympics.
The Sabres captain and defenseman notched his second career point in the Olympics during the first period, on a Gustav Forsling goal that gave Sweden a 2-1 edge. second assist of the game on William Nylander’s goal, which gave Sweden the 3-2 advantage.
Finally, Dahlin assisted on Mika Zibanejad’s goal, which pushed Sweden’s lead to 4-2 in the third period.
With the performance, Dahlin joined elite company in Swedish Olympic history. Only one Swedish player recorded as many assists in an Olympic game involving NHL players: Daniel Alfredsson, who had three on Feb. 22, 2006.
Dahlin’s first Olympic point came at the 2018 Winter Games, when he tallied one assist in two games as Team Sweden’s youngest player at age 17.