The World Cup of Hockey's preliminary round is over, and not a second too soon for Team USA.
Czech Republic handed the Americans their third loss of the tournament with a narrow 4-3 victory on Thursday night.
The game was meaningless in the standings, as both teams were eliminated from contention earlier in the week, and with nothing but pride on the line, a sparse Air Canada Centre crowd took in a less than spirited affair.
Zbynek Michalek got things started for Czech Republic, firing a point shot past Ben Bishop, who made his first start of the tournament.
USA quickly answered with a power-play goal from Joe Pavelski late in the first period, and after Milan Michalek and Justin Abdelkader traded goals in the second, Czech Republic found the net twice in 39 seconds to ultimately seal the deal.
Ryan McDonagh scored his second goal of the tournament to make it 4-3 at 2:22 in the third period, but it was as close as the Americans would get, as Czech goaltender Petr Mrazek made 33 saves in the victory.
Thus ends a disastrous, much-publicized failure for the United States, which amassed just five goals through three games.
The Czechs, meanwhile, end their tournament with a record of 1-1-1.
