Brock Nelson, US drill Latvia 5-1 in men's hockey opener in Milan

Brock Nelson scored two goals for the United States in a 5-1 win against Latvia in their opening preliminary-round game at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics on Thursday.

Brady Tkachuk, Tage Thompson and Auston Matthews also scored, Jack Hughes had three assists and Matthew Tkachuk and Jack Eichel each had two assists for the U.S., which next plays Denmark on Saturday.

Connor Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the Americans.

Renars Krastenbergs scored and Elvis Merzlikins made 33 saves for Latvia, which plays Germany on Saturday.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead at 5:29 of the first period.

Matthew Tkachuk received a pass from Zach Werenski along the wall in the Latvia zone and he chipped the puck into the middle to his brother, who scored from the right hash marks.

Quinn Hughes appeared to score for the U.S. again at 6:59, but Latvia challenged for offsides and was successful.

Latvia then tied it 1-1 at 7:25 when Krastenbergs swept in a rebound from in front of the crease.

The U.S. thought it scored again at 11:35 of the first on a tip-in by Nelson, but Latvia successfully challenged for goalie interference. The U.S. also hit the post and the crossbar in the opening period.

The Americans finally put one in the net that counted when Nelson received a pass while cutting through the slot. He juked Merzlikins before sliding the puck into the open net with a backhand for a 2-1 lead at 10:38 of the second.

The U.S. added a power-play goal at 17:35 of the second. Thompson received a pass to the side of the net, spun in front and lifted a backhand over the right shoulder of Merzlikins to make it 3-1.

Nelson finished off a tic-tac-toe play with 12 seconds left in the second period to increase the lead to 4-1, and Matthews tacked on another power-play goal at 2:35 of the third for the 5-1 final.

--Field Level Media