The United States defeated Kazakhstan 10-1 at the world championship of hockey

OSTRAVA (AP) _ Brady Tkachuk had three goals and an assist to lead the United States past Kazakhstan 10-1 on Sunday at the world hockey championship.

In a later Group B contest, Latvia prevailed over Slovakia 3-2 in a shootout to send the USA to the next round.

The fourth win lifted the Americans into second place in Group B with 13 points, one ahead of Germany and Slovakia, with a game against nine-point Latvia on Tuesday to play in the preliminary round.

Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and four assists to become the USA’s leading scorer with 43 points, one more than Patrick Kane.

Matt Boldy scored twice and had four assists, Brock Nelson and Luke Kunin both had a goal and an assist, and Gavin Brindley and Kevin Hayes also scored.

Alex Nedeljkovic made 13 saves.

In a four-goal opening period, Tkachuk deflected a Zach Werenski shot on a power play to extend the USA lead to 2-0 and buried a rebound to make it 4-0 on a power play.

He completed his hat trick to extend the lead to 8-0 with a one-timer from the right circle on another power play in the final period.

Alikhan Omirbekov scored for Kazakhstan as the Americans led 9-0.

In Group A, Austria beat Norway 4-1 in Prague and are tied for fourth with Finland.

The top four in each group advance to the playoff round.

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AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports

The Associated Press