Jones, Lafferty Advance to Medal Round at Worlds

With a 3-0 win over previously-undefeated Switzerland and fellow Blackhawk Philipp Kurashev on Thursday in the quarterfinal round, the Americans will face the hosts, Finland, on Saturday at 6:20 a.m. CT in the semifinal round. The winner of that matchup will play for gold on Sunday afternoon (12:20 p.m. CT), while the loser will compete for bronze, also on Sunday (7:20 a.m.).

Jones, the team's captain, logged a game-high 29:41 of ice time with two shots and a +2 rating on Thursday, totaling four points (1G, 3A) in eight games in the tournament. Lafferty skated 12:33 and had a shot on goal in the win and has a goal and an assist in the tournament.

Kurashev had one goal and three assists in eight games in the tournament, averaging just over 12 minutes per game.

Jones is leading all skaters in average ice time in the tournament at better than 25 minutes per game. Lafferty is skating almost 15 minutes per night and has seen time on the blue line as well with the US down to only five healthy defensemen.

The US has a chance to medal in consecutive World Championships for the first time since 1949 and 1950.

All-time, the Americans have won gold twice, silver nine times and bronze nine times.

Lukas Reichel and Germany fell to Czechia 4-1 in their quarterfinal matchup on Thursday, skating 18:39 and registering three shots in the loss. He totaled five points (2G, 3A) in four games after joining the German side midway through the tournament after the conclusion of the AHL playoffs, a fine showing for the Blackhawks' top prospect.

Erik Gustafsson also saw his tournament come to an end as Canada stormed back from a 3-0 third period deficit to stun Sweden 4-3 in overtime. He tallied a primary assist in the loss, bringing his tournament total to seven helpers in eight games.