US Earns Men's Hockey Gold Matchup vs Canada After Rout of Slovakia

The United States made light work of Slovakia with a 6-2 victory Friday to set up the eagerly awaited Olympic men's ice hockey final with Canada.

The U.S. was in cruise control heading into the final period, up five on goals by Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Eichel and two from Jack Hughes, before Brady Tkachuk scored between a pair of Slovak consolation goals.

Tempers flared in the final minutes, when the Tkachuk brothers, Brady and Matthew, got involved in a fight with Slovakia's Erik Cernak and all three headed for an early shower after being hit with 10-minute penalties. 

"A lot of guys in there, hard to see from the bench," U.S. forward Brock Nelson said of the tussle. "But love the fire from my guys for sure."

NHL players returned to the Games following a 12-year absence and expectations had been high that the North American rivals would reap the benefits and face off in the decider. The U.S. obliged with ease after Canada's tense 3-2 semifinal win over defending champions Finland, and the star-studded sides will meet in Sunday's gold-medal decider at Santagiulia Arena.

Slovakia takes on Finland in Saturday's bronze-medal game at the same venue.

Larkin put the U.S. in front in the fifth minute, collecting a pass just inside the blue line before charging forward, splitting the Slovak defenders and sending a wrist shot on the fly over the shoulder of goalie Samuel Hlavaj.

Slovakia had two power plays in the opening period but could find no way through against the only team in the tournament yet to allow a goal when short-handed.

The Americans, on the other hand, took all of 17 seconds to score on their first power play in the final minute of the opening period, Thompson blasting a one-timer from a wide angle into the roof of the net.

The U.S. killed another two penalties early in the second period and netted two goals in the space of 19 seconds to all but put the game away.

Hughes side-stepped Slovakia captain Tomas Tatar and ripped a shot into the top corner, and the arena announcer barely had time to catch breath before Eichel hit a backhand shot around the goalie.

Slovakia immediately replaced Hlavaj, but Stanislav Skorvanek held out less than six minutes before Hughes drilled home his second goal of the night to make it 5-0.

There was little celebration from Juraj Slafkovsky after he scored for Slovakia in the final period, and Brady Tkachuk restored the five-goal advantage with a breakaway goal before Pavol Regenda netted another to complete the scoring.