US beats Hungary 5-1 in ice hockey worlds

MOSCOW – Forward Nick Foligno scored twice to lead the United States past Hungary 5-1 in the ice hockey world championship on Friday.

The US has won three of its five games in Group B, while Hungary is winless. Group leaders Canada and Finland, each 4-0 in the preliminaries, were idle on Friday.

In Moscow, the Group A-leading Czech Republic defeated Kazakhstan 3-1. Tomas Plekanec scored twice and Robert Kousal added the third. Kazakhstan’s goal came from Nigel Dawes.

In St. Petersburg, Foligno opened the scoring in the second period on a power play with a high shot past goalkeeper Adam Vay’s left hand. Vince Hinostroza scored from close in just 18 seconds later, and Dylan Larkin made it 3-0 with a deflection off Vay’s back.

Foligno and Connor Murphy added two more in the third, before Istvan Sofron got Hungary on the scoreboard with less than two minutes to go.

The US took 37 shots on goal against Hungary’s eight.

The lopsided statistics aside, US coach John Hynes said Hungary was “well-coached, well-structured.”

“After the first period, we had to stay consistent,” he added. “They checked us real hard.”

Friday’s evening games were Denmark versus Latvia and Germany against Belarus, all of them in the lower half of their groups.