U.S. drops another 2-1 game, but is expected to advance

The Americans end pool play Tuesday against the Russians.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
TURIN, Italy -- The concern today shouldn't be about Team USA getting to the quarterfinals of the Olympic hockey tournament.
Even if they lose to the Russians Tuesday and end up tied for the fourth spot in their group with Latvia, it is almost a certainty the U.S. will advance simply because it will have given up fewer goals overall than Latvia.
The worry should not be about advancing. It should be about the U.S. players skating on the larger Olympic rink, but playing like they are still in the NHL.
For the second game in a row, the U.S. team lost a game 2-1. It was to the Slovakians Saturday night and Team Sweden Sunday. In both those games, the U.S. had more shots on net than their opponents but failed to finish.
Mike Modano scored the only U.S. goal. Daniel Alfredsson scored one for Sweden on a rebound in the first period, and Mikael Samuelsson got a rebound on power play in the third to end the tie.
Two-man advantages
The U.S. put 26 shots on Henrik Lundqvist but could not finish on the big chances they had, including two extended five-on-three opportunities in the second period.
Even with Peter Forsberg watching the game from the bench, taking what he said was a previously-agreed-upon rest day to keep from re-injuring his strained left groin, the U.S. could not finish its chances to get past Sweden and clinch a spot in the quarterfinals by securing a single point.
"It's a bad feeling," Doug Weight said. "Certainly, the position we're in is desperate. ... [Saturday], we had some great chances against Slovakia and we didn't get the puck in the net. Same thing today."
"We still control our fate, and we feel like we can go out and have a great game against Russia and hopefully win."
But not without scoring.
No excuses
"It's just a matter of scoring," Weight said. "We had great chances, but you've got to score. No excuses. Goaltending, how they killed [penalties], not knowing each other, no excuses. You have to score."
With a day off today, the U.S. will convene in meetings and then practice on the ice in hopes of finding a better game.
Since starting this tournament with a 3-3 tie against Latvia, which lost to Russia 9-2 on Sunday, the U.S. has been slowly pulling itself together.
The Americans are playing a better defensive game and moving like they have a plan.
The problem seems to be that the plan does not suit the size of the rink they are playing on or the speed of the opponents.
And it's the reason they can't score.
They don't spread out. They don't get to the second-chance opportunities. And they don't make plays off the rush because they can't break into the open.
VCR time
After Sunday's loss, the players leaving the ice agreed that they have a problem and said they will watch the game on tape in the hopes of figuring it out.
"We'll go back and watch the film," Scott Gomez said. "I'm sure there are adjustments we can make, and we'll make them. But in a tournament like this, it's got to happen quickly. Whatever's going wrong out there, hopefully we'll figure it out. We've got one more game, and hopefully we'll turn it around then."
So now it's on to the Russians and trying to find a way to adjust before the medal rounds begin Wednesday.
"We've got to start finding a way to score," defenseman Derian Hatcher said. "We've lost two games now 2-1.
"Whatever we did didn't work and I'm sure we'll work on it in practice and go from there. I don't know how many power plays we had [Sunday], but that was obviously a problem. A goal or two there would have been nice."