Ben Bowns secured his second shutout of the tournament as Great Britain beat Lithuania 3-0 to record a third successive victory at the World Championship Division I Group A at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham.
Bowns got his third successive start between the pipes and turned away 28 shots as GB moved onto eight points to go top of the group after three matches.
GB went ahead after only 67 seconds when Evan Mosey won the puck on the boards and fed Cade Neilson who cut inside from the right, came away from a challenge and fired past Mantas Armalis (1:07).
Josh Tetlow hit the pipes after jumping onto a loose puck in the slot and Liam Kirk was denied on a breakaway.
Kirk and Neilson combined to set-up Robert Dowd who out-waited the defender before scoring GB’s second on the powerplay with a neat wrist-shot from the left circle (16:42).
Photo credit: Dean Woolley
Brett Perlini and Mike Hammond were denied on the same shift as GB pushed for a third in a quieter second period.
At the other end, Bowns made a good save to stop Ugnius Cizas’ shot from the right circle.
Bowns turned away quality shots from Cizas and Aivaras Bendzius as Lithuania searched desperately for a goal to close the gap.
Nathanael Halbert wrapped the game up with an empty-net goal from his own zone for his first GB goal (58:10).
Assistant Coach, Chuck Weber, said: “We weren’t at our best that’s for sure but the main thing is we secured the win.
Photo credit: Dean Woolley
“We had the puck a lot tonight and spent some time on the powerplay and we know we will have to improve going forward.
“We know we can play better and we have another important game tomorrow against Romania.
“We also know we have to win out now if we are to achieve our aim of a gold medal and promotion.”
GB are back in action tomorrow night against Romania at the Motorpoint Arena (7:30pm face-off).
World Championship Division I Group A – Great Britain results and schedule
Saturday 29th April: Korea 0-4 Great Britain – Goals: Lake, Dowd, Neilson, Kirk
Sunday 30th April: Great Britain 5-4 Poland (overtime) – Goals: J. Phillips, Neilson, Kirk, Hammond, Lake
Tuesday 2nd May: Great Britain 3-0 Lithuania – Goals: Neilson, Dowd, Halbert
Wednesday 3rd May: Great Britain v Romania – 19:30
Friday 5th May: Italy v Great Britain – 19:30
