ZURICH, Switzerland – Tommy Novak (River Falls, Wis./Pittsburgh Penguins) recorded five assists and Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo./Florida Panthers) had two goals and two assists to help the U.S. Men’s National Team to a 7-3 victory over Hungary here today in its sixth preliminary round tilt of the 2026 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
“I thought we had great focus and a good response today,” said Don Granato, head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team. “We did a really good job getting pucks to the net, which was something we talked about going into the game.”
Justin Faulk (South St. Paul, Minn./Detroit Red Wings) opened the scoring at 9:43, firing a one-timer from the point past the outstretched pad of Hungarian netminder Adam Vay. Novak collected an assist on the tally.
Tkachuk doubled the U.S. advantage with a power-play goal at 18:22, corralling a pass from Novak, stepping out from behind the goal line and sending the puck through Vay’s five-hole.
Ryan Leonard (Amherst, Mass./Washington Capitals) wristed a shot through Vay from the slot after a faceoff win by Novak at 2:09 of the middle stanza to put the U.S. ahead, 3-0.
Faulk scored his second of the contest at 7:52, rifling a wrist shot over Vay’s right shoulder from the top of the slot after passes from Tkachuk and Novak.
Hungary trimmed its deficit to 4-1 at 10:19 as Csanad Erdely capitalized on a cross-crease pass, poking a shot past the blocker of U.S. goaltender Joseph Woll (St. Louis, Mo./Toronto Maple Leafs).
Leonard added his second of the game and Team USA’s third power-play tally at 18:13 when he blasted a one-timer from the left faceoff circle home after feeds from Faulk and Tkachuk to give Team USA a 5-1 advantage.
Erdely scored his second of the game off a deflection to cut the U.S. lead to three at 7:15 of the third.
Woll came up large with a stellar shorthanded save with 11:01 to play, sliding across his crease to deny a net-front opportunity.
Hungary pulled within two at 14:09, but Tkachuk scored into an empty net at 16:45 to end any hopes of a Hungary comeback. Max Plante (Hermantown, Minn./University of Minnesota Duluth) tallied his first of the tournament at 19:33 to account for the 7-3 final.
Woll had 14 saves in the contest to pick up the win in the U.S. net.
Team USA is back in action tomorrow (May 26) in its final preliminary round game against Austria. Puck drop is set for 4:20 p.m. (10:20 a.m. ET) and the game will be televised live on NHL Network and will stream live on the NHL YouTube Channel. With a victory in regulation, the U.S. will ensure itself a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinal round of the tournament.