Alex Nedeljkovic earned his first win -- and shutout -- of the World Championship in Team USA's 5-0 win over France on Thursday in Czechia.
Nedeljkovic only needed to make 10 saves for the shutout. The U.S. dominated the possession, outshooting France 54-10. Nedeljkovic made three stops in each of the first two periods, and then four in the third.
The U.S. got goals from Brock Nelson, Matt Boldy (2) and Johnny Gaudreau in the first period, and then one from Shane Pinto in the third.
This was Nedeljkovic's second start of the tournament, having taken over as the No. 1 after Alex Lyon was injured and left the tournament after Game 2. Nedeljkovic was pulled in the second period of his first start after allowing four goals on 16 shots to Slovakia.
The U.S. improved to 2-2 in the tournament and moved into a tie with Latvia for third place in Group B.
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• Penguins minor-league forward and Robert Morris alum Justin Addamo centered France's third line in the loss, and was a minus-1 in 11:53. He recorded no shots.
• Canada beat Norway, 4-1. Michael Bunting was scoreless on the left wing of the second line. He was a plus-1 and had one shot on goal in 15:14.
• Sweden beat Kazakhstan, 3-1. Marcus Pettersson had the secondary assist on Sweden's second goal. Pettersson recorded two shots and a plus-1 rating in 17:55 on Sweden's third defense pairing. Erik Karlsson was scoreless with one shot and an even plus/minus in 22:16 on the top pairing.
• Finland had a disastrous collapse against Austria, losing 3-2. It was the first time in the history of the tournament that Austria beat Finland. Finland led 2-0 after the first period, then Austria cut the lead in half in the middle frame. Penguins minor-league defenseman Thimo Nickl scored the tying goal for Austria with just over 10 minutes remaining, and then the game-winner came with less than one second remaining on the clock. Valtteri Puustinen was scoreless with an even plus/minus in 14:26 on Finland's top line. He led the team with six shots on goal -- three more than any other Finn. Jesse Puljujarvi was scoreless with an even plus/minus and one shot on goal in 16:26 on Finland's second line. Nickl's goal was his only point and shot on net in 14:34 on Austria's top defense pairing.
• There are two games on Friday's schedule featuring Penguins players. Nickl and Austria play Czechia at 2:20 p.m. Eastern, and Nedeljkovic and the U.S. play Poland at the same time.
