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Slovakia's Tomas Tatar, right, celebrates scoring his sides third goal past goaltender Cory Schneider of the US, center, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Slovakia's Tomas Tatar, right, celebrates his sides fourth goal past goaltender Cory Schneider of the US, left, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Slovakia's Tomas Tatar celebrates his sides fourth goal during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Slovakia's goaltender Patrik Rybar, right, makes a save against James van Riemsdyk of the US, left, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Clayton Keller of the US, right, challenges Slovakia's Mario Lunter, left, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Czech Republic's and Sweden's players fight during the Ice Hockey World Championships group B match between Czech Republic and Sweden at the Andrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

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Sweden's Oliver Ekman Larsson, left, checks Czech Republic's Filip Hronek during the Ice Hockey World Championships group B match between Czech Republic and Sweden at the Andrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

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Brady Skjei of the US, right, and goaltender Cory Schneider of the US, left, eye the puck during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Slovakia's Tomas Tatar celebrates scoring his sides third goal during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Clayton Keller of the US reaches for the puck during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Goaltender Cory Schneider of the US makes a save during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Slovakia and the United States at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Canada's goaltender Matt Murray, 2nd right, and is teammates Thomas Chabot, right, and Shea Theodore, left, make a save against Finland's Jere Sallinen, 2nd left, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Finland and Canada at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Finland's Arttu Ilomaki, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring his sides second goal during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Finland and Canada at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Finland's Jere Sallinen, down, collides with Canada's goaltender Matt Murray, up, during the Ice Hockey World Championships group A match between Finland and Canada at the Steel Arena in Kosice, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Norway's Tobias Lindstroem, left, checks Russia's Vladislav Gavrikov during the Ice Hockey World Championships group B match between Russia and Norway at the Andrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, Friday, May 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)

Slovakia stuns US 4-1 in world hockey championship opener

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 6:09 PM ET May. 10, 2019

KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) — Matus Sukel scored early in the first period and Slovakia went on to beat the U.S. 4-1 on home ice Friday night, a stunning result on the opening day of the world hockey championship.

Alex DeBrincat had a goal off assists from Patrick Kane and Jack Eichel to pull the Americans into a tie midway through the period in the Group A game, but they couldn't score again against Patrik Rybar.

Erik Cernak and Tomas Tatar put the Slovaks up 3-1 in the second period and Michal Kristof gave them a three-goal cushion in the third.

Corey Schneider made 32 saves for the Americans. They will face France on Sunday.

In Bratislava in Group B, the Czech Republic beat Sweden 5-2. Jakub Vrana scored twice for the Czechs against the two-time defending champion Swedes.

Patric Hornqvist and Oskar Lindblom scored in the second period to give Sweden a 2-1 lead. The Czech Republic responded with four straight goals, including one into an empty net after Henrik Lundqvist was pulled to add an extra skater.

Czech goaltender Patrik Bartosak kept the Swedes scoreless in two of three periods in his world championship debut.

Earlier in Group A in Kosice, Kaapo Kakko scored twice, including an empty-net goal with 34 seconds left, to lift Finland to a 3-1 victory over Canada. Arttu Ilomaki had a tiebreaking goal early in the third period and Kevin Lankinen finished with 20 saves for the Finns.

Canada's Jonathan Marchessault tied the game midway through the first period and Matt Murray stopped 24 shots. The Canadians, who won the world championship in 2016 and 2015, opened the tournament a day after Hockey Canada and the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to hold John Tavares out because of his oblique injury.

In the Group B opener in Bratislava, The Russians got off to a strong start with Evgeny Dadonov scoring twice and Nikita Kucherov adding one in a 5-2 victory over Norway.

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