Latvia stunned the defending champion United States with a 4-2 victory at the ice hockey world championship, handing the Americans their third defeat of the tournament. Sandis Vilmanis sealed the win with two empty-net goals in the final 1:02, while Deniss Smirnovs' early third-period marker gave Latvia the crucial lead they needed to pull off the upset.

The Americans fought back with Matthew Tkachuk setting up Mathieu Olivier with just 51 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one. Tkachuk, a two-time Stanley Cup winner playing only his second career world championship game, had earlier tied the game with a power-play goal in the second period after Latvia's Haralds Egle opened the scoring.

The loss drops the U.S. to fifth in Group A, one point behind Latvia with two games remaining against Hungary on Monday and Austria on Tuesday. In other Group B action, Denmark earned its first win with a 4-0 shutout of Slovenia, while later matchups include Switzerland-Hungary, Austria-Germany, Czechia-Slovakia, and Sweden-Norway.