Ostrava, Czech Republic (SportsNetwork.com) - The United States suffered its first loss of the 2015 World Hockey Championship on Thursday with a 5-2 setback to Belarus.
The Americans had beaten Finland, Norway and Russia in its first three games, and came out flat after a two-day break and fell behind 3-0 in the second period. Brock Nelson and Torey Krug scored goals for the United States, while Jack Campbell made 18 saves in defeat.
Artur Gavrus, Artyom Volkov and Alexander Kitarov scored in a five-minute span during the second period for Belarus, which improved to 3-0-1 and moved to the top of the Group B standings with 10 points. The Americans and Russians are tied for second with nine points.
Finland has rebounded from the loss to the Americans with three consecutive shutouts. Pekka Rinne needed to make only 13 saves as Finland blanked Slovenia 4-0 on Thursday.
In Group A action on Thursday, the Czech Republic earned a 5-1 win over France and Sweden clipped Germany by a 4-3 score.
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