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Jack Eichel, North America tops Rasmus Ristolainen and Finland in World Cup opener

Posted at 11:53 PM, Sep 18, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-18 23:53:40-04

Led by Jack Eichel, the video game NHL '17 predicted Team North America would win the World Cup of Hockey.

The Sabres star opened the tournament with with style on Sunday.

The second year forward scored five minutes into the opening period, pounding home the rebound off a shot from the 2016 1st overall pick, Auston Matthews, to give the 23-year-old or younger squad the ealry 1-0 lead.

They never looked back.

Johnny Gaudreau added the razzle-dazzle highlight of the night, spinning in mid-air while redirecting a shot past Pekka Rinne to give North America a 2-0 lead in the second period.

Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon provided the other two goal for Team North America.

Valterri Filppula tallied the lone goal for Team Finland.

Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen finished with a -1 rating and four hits in 22:28 minutes of ice time.