Picking Up the Pace : Top U.S. Scoring Line Hopes to Show Its Stuff Against Up-Tempo Slovakia

Todd Marchant is the playmaker, a center who prefers passing to shooting. Left wing Craig Johnson is the digger, the dervish who spins into the corner to fight for the puck. Right wing Peter Ferraro is so natural a scorer that, according to Marchant, “he just shoots and the puck finds ways to go into the net for him.”

Together, the three pose the most formidable scoring threat for the U.S. Olympic team. But they had only one goal, combined, in Sunday’s tournament-opening 4-4 tie with France, and will have to be more effective tonight against Slovakia for the U.S. team to stay in medal contention.

Unlike the defense-oriented French team, Slovakia plays an up-tempo style. That means the Johnson-Marchant-Ferraro line should be in its element; they are the three fastest U.S. skaters and were 1-2-4 in scoring in pre-Olympic play.

“Craig adds the power to our line because he can score goals and he can hit,” said Ferraro, who scored 30 goals for the U.S. team in 60 pre-Olympic games. “Todd adds good speed and I try to be somewhat creative and add scoring punch. I think we have very good line chemistry.”

Led by former NHL star Peter Stastny, Slovakia is seeded 12th in its Olympic debut, but has players with significant international experience. The same teams played a 5-5 tie at the Telehockey Cup tournament in Lillehammer in November.

“I think you’re going to see a different offensive game from our team (today),” Marchant said after practice here Monday. “We’re really going to try to bury our chances, especially on the power play. . . . We can’t float it in and hope it trickles through. That’s what we were doing against France instead of taking the puck with initiative.”