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LINCOLN, Neb. - Luke Opilka (St. Louis, Mo.) stopped all 32 shots faced and seven skaters registered multi-point efforts as the U.S. National Under-18 Team shutout the Lincoln Stars, 8-0, here tonight at the Lincoln Ice Box. The contest was the last United States Hockey League road game for the U18s this season.
Team USA opened the scoring when Jack Roslovic (Columbus, Ohio) fed the puck to Auston Matthews (Scottsdale, Ariz.) in front of the Lincoln net. Left alone, Matthews fired the puck past Peyton Jones for the goal. Matthew Tkachuk (St. Louis, Mo.) also assisted. The U18s struck again when Jordan Greenway (Potsdam, N.Y.) found Christian Fischer for a quick one-timer that hit the twine.
Colin White (Hanover, Mass.) notched Team USA's third goal off the draw midway through the second stanza. Clayton Keller (Swansea, Ill.) earned an assist. Matthews dropped a pass back to Tkachuk who coasted into the slot and sniped a shot past Jones to give the U.S. a 4-0 lead heading into the final frame. Chad Krys (Ridgefield, Conn.) also assisted on Tkachuk's marker.
Four tallies in the third period iced the U.S. triumph. Jeremy Bracco (Freeport, N.Y.) surveyed the ice from the right corner before connecting with Roslovic who wristed the puck home at 3:13. Matthews collected the secondary assist. Bracco next found Keller who snuck behind the Stars defense for a backhanded score at 5:24. Troy Terry (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and Krys potted goals at 12:05 and 14:48 respectively and Team USA took the game 8-0.
The U.S. National Under-18 Team concludes the regular season with two home tilts next weekend. First up, the Chicago Steel visit the Ann Arbor Ice Cube for a 7 p.m. ET showdown on Friday, March 27. Sunday's matinee with the Muskegon Lumberjacks begins at 3:30 p.m. Both games are available via live streaming at FASTHockey.com.
Team USA outshot the Stars, 36-32 ... The U.S. went 3-4 with the man advantage and successfully killed off all six Lincoln opportunities ... This was the first shutout for either NTDP squad versus USHL foes this season ... Auston Matthews is riding an 11-game USHL point streak (10-15) dating back to Feb. 20. The forward has been held without a point just twice in 22 league games ... Matthew Tkachuk extended his own point streak to 11 games with one goal and one assist tonight versus Lincoln. The forward now has 20 points (10-10) over that span ... Jack Roslovic has compiled a seven-game point streak that includes five goals and nine helpers. Over the last 11 USHL outings, the forward has 22 points (8-14) ... Jordan Greenway has points (2-7) in five straight USHL games dating back to March 8. Four of the five outings have been multi-point efforts ... Charles McAvoy (Long Beach, N.Y) has assists in six straight contests ... The U18s have now outshot USHL opponents in 18 of 23 contests, including 14 straight ... Team USA has averaged 34.52 shots for per game while allowing 25.96 shots against in all USHL games.