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Posted: Sat February 14, 1998 at 3:47 a.m EST United States 5, Belarus 2 --------------------------Pat LaFontaine, Brian Leetch and Brett Hull each had a goal and an assist and the United States scored four times on the power play to post its first victory of the Olympic tournament, 5-2 over Belarus. Chris Chelios and Adam Deadmarsh also tallied and Kevin Hatcher added two assists for the United States (1-1), which rebounded from Friday's 4-2 loss to Sweden . "We're not playing real well as a unit yet," Chelios said. "We're getting lots of chances offensively, but against Sweden we gave up eight 2-on-1s. We need better communication between our forwards and defensemen and I think we'll be alright. We did a better job of that against Belarus and didn't give them many chances." Mike Richter, who was shaky in the loss to Sweden, needed to make just 16 saves, but came up with several big stops early in the third period when the U.S. was protecting a one-goal lead. "Not taking anything away from Sweden, for the most part they outplayed us and deserved to win," Deadmarsh said. "It definitely wasn't the best we can play though. We learned a lot in that game and put some of what we learned into use against Belarus. We've got the big game against Canada next and I know we'll be ready." Belarus was whistled for four penalties in the first period and the United States cashed in twice. With Alexei Kalyuzhny already serving a too many men on the ice penalty, Viktor Karachun was called for holding the stick and Chelios capitalized at 9:06, blasting a slap shot between the pads of goaltender Andrei Mezin from the high slot for his second goal. Belarus was again called for too many men on the ice at 10:07 and LaFontaine made it 2-0 just 24 seconds later. LaFontaine attempted to pass across the slot from the low right faceoff circle but the puck deflected in off the skate of a sliding Belarus defender. Karachun and Vassili Pankov scored for Belarus (0-2), which was blanked by Canada, 5-0, in its first game of the championship round. Belarus played without captain Alexander Andrievski, who was suffering from the flu. Karachun's second goal with 1:58 left in the first period drew Belarus withn 2-1, but Leetch struck on the power play at 8:16 of the second. John LeClair carried into the offensive zone and left a drop pass in the right circle for Leetch, who whipped a wrist shot past Mezin for his first goal. The United States held a 3-1 lead after two periods, but Pankov snapped a low wrist shot past Richter's glove side just 27 seconds into the third to make it a one-goal game. Belarus nearly tied it during a power play two minutes later when Ruslan Salei's shot went through Richter's pads before trickling just wide of the net. Hull gave the U.S. some breathing room with another power-play goal at 13:45. Doug Weight pulled the puck off the right boards and sent a pass to the top of the right circle for Hull, who fired a one-timer between Mezin's pads for his first goal. Deadmarsh capped the scoring with 1:46 remaining, beating an out-of-positon Mezin with a backhander following a partial break by Jeremy Roenick. Unlike the United States, Belarus went scoreless on seven power-play opportunities. The United States faces Canada, while Belarus meets Sweden on Sunday.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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