Watch Justin Faulk save Team USA from total embarrassment vs. Kazakhstan in OT (VIDEO)
For a while, it seemed like their IIHF world championship tournament game was headed to an understandable tradeoff: The U.S. helped make Borat the singular cultural stereotype about Kazakhstan, and then Kazakhstan gets arguably its biggest win in international ice hockey at the expense of the Americans.
Defenseman Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes, however, saved Team USA from embarrassment against Kazakhstan in the preliminary round with an OT goal. It was Faulk's second goal in a 3-2 win.
"Team America, Faulk Yeah!" (joke via Jeff Swanson)
Someone named Talgat Zhailauov tied the game late with 4:06 left in the third period for Kazakhstan, forcing overtime. That in itself was a loss for Team USA: The IIHF world championship tournament uses a three-point regulation win format, so the Americans lost a point in the standings.
Through five games, they now have 10 points (two regulation wins, two overtime wins, one loss), which puts them in the top four behind Finland (12 points in four games) and right with Canada (10 points in four games).
The U.S. still has to face Finland and Switzerland. This lost point might hurt. Not as much as the monsoon of Borat jokes that would have been made at Team USA's expense had it lost this game, but hurt nonetheless.
