Draisaitl's dagger deals big blow to Czech Republic
Leon Draisaitl scored on a breakaway in overtime as Team Europe remained undefeated at the World Cup of Hockey with a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic on Monday.
Europe improved to 2-0-0 in the group stage, while the Czech Republic fell to 0-2-0.
Czechs are in deep, but not officially eliminated. They need: 1) USA reg win vs. CAN; 2) A win vs. USA; 3) EUR reg win vs. CAN.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) September 19, 2016
The result is also bad news for the United States, which must now beat Canada on Tuesday night in order to advance.
Martin Hanzal tied Monday's game for the Czechs with a power-play goal less than nine minutes into the third period.
Mats Zuccarello beat Petr Mrazek on a weak wrist shot the goaltender should have stopped, giving Europe a 2-1 lead moments after Mrazek robbed Roman Josi with a huge glove save.
Zdeno Chara opened the scoring midway through the second period, beating Mrazek from an odd angle to give Europe a 1-0 lead, but Jakub Voracek scored the Czech Republic's first goal of the tournament to tie it up later in the frame.
Europe outshot the Czech Republic 41-30, including a 21-9 edge in the second period.
On Saturday, the European squad opened its tournament with a 3-0 shutout of the United States. The Czechs were blanked 6-0 by Canada in their opening game later that evening.
Team Europe concludes its preliminary-round schedule against Canada on Wednesday. The Czech Republic will face the U.S. in the third and final group stage contest for both nations on Thursday.