MILAN — Team USA won, they dug their way out of it, so let’s get that out of the way. This could have been worse. They’re still on pace to win their group. Even if they don’t, they still make the knockout stage. It could’ve been much worse than 6-3 over the Danes on Saturday night here at the Olympics.
Now that we’re done with those obligatory noises: little about this performance against a team the Americans should have easily crushed inspired confidence.
For chunks of this game, Team USA looked like they had just gotten punched in the face. You know, a lot like how Danish politicians looked after Trump said he wanted to annex Greenland.
With a few notable exceptions — namely the Tkachuk brothers, the Hughes brothers, Brock Nelson and Jack Eichel — the Americans are still searching for their best game. They claimed to not be alarmed the other night over a poor first period against Latvia, and it’s obvious now they should have been.
