U.S. Puts Itself Back on Track

In a tournament shaping up as Canada against all comers, the U.S. men’s hockey team took a modest step toward medal contention Thursday.

In a respectable but not overwhelming 4-1 victory over Kazakhstan, the Americans washed away the aftertaste of the sour tie against Latvia one night earlier. They also felt a bit better about themselves after a check of the scoreboard, which revealed that Russia had shut out second-seeded Sweden and unheralded Switzerland had stunned the Czech Republic, 3-2.

“You would think the Czechs could score 100 goals, just based on their talent,” U.S. Coach Peter Laviolette said.

No one would make such a remark about the sixth-seeded Americans, but they’re undefeated through two games, on the first and second full days after their arrival. The jet lag should be gone by the time they play again Saturday, the first of three consecutive games against the best teams in their pool -- Slovakia, Sweden and Russia.

“We don’t consider ourselves world beaters now,” forward Mike Knuble said. “We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish.”

The Latvia game appeared to jolt the Americans, from slumber or otherwise. Forward Brian Gionta said they were “shocked,” and forward Doug Weight said they had played Thursday with “a little chip on our shoulders.” Latvia and Kazakhstan are the two lowest-seeded teams in the U.S. pool.

“Based on what happened [against Latvia], we had to win tonight,” forward Keith Tkachuk said.

The Americans scored three goals in the first period -- by Bill Guerin, Brian Rolston and Gionta -- and held Kazakhstan without a shot for the first 12 minutes of the second period. The teams traded goals in the third period, with Mike Modano scoring for the U.S.

U.S. goalie Rick DiPietro stopped 10 of 11 shots in his Olympic debut. The Americans outshot Kazakhstan, 30-9, in the first two periods and 36-12 overall, all the while learning their defensive scheme on the fly.

That adjustment, more than anything, explained the poor showing against Latvia, defenseman Chris Chelios said.

“Instead of skating, guys were standing around, trying to figure out where to be,” he said.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski did not play because of what Laviolette called an “upper body injury.” At this point, Laviolette said the injury was not serious enough to consider removing Rafalski from the roster.