Great Britain Under-20s produced a fantastic performance to beat hosts Lithuania Under-20s 6-3 in U20 World Championship Division II Group A in Vilnius.
Austin Mitchell-King scored twice as GB move up to third in the standings after two matches.
GB led by two before the six-minute mark as Mitchell-King netted at the backdoor from Patrick Larkin’s pass (1:58) and Tyler Cooper scored on the powerplay in the slot after a well-worked move (5:42).
Martynas Grinius pounced on the rebound to close the gap (14:28) before two goals in 70 seconds in the second period put GB firmly in the box seat.
Lithuania netminder Laurynas Lubys gave the puck straight to Larkin fresh out the box and he made it 3-1 at 23:56, while Joe Hazeldine’s shot from the left wing sneaked in (25:06).
Nikita Kuzminov replaced Lubys in the Lithuania goal but he was soon picking the puck out of the net when Alex Graham scored from close range after tic-tac-toe on the powerplay (35:29).
Grinius scored his second of the night after he had room in front of the net (39:42).
Mitchell-King grabbed his second after a goalmouth scramble (49:06), while Timonas Mazulis’ rebound on the powerplay 47 seconds later was merely a consolation (49:53).
Head coach, Martin Grubb, said: “We knew the importance of the game and we were determined to get off to a good start and put Lithuania under pressure early.
“We got a great start and the early goal settled us and allowed us to set the tempo.
“We asked the players to keep out-working them in the second and stay disciplined. We did a good job with that and that allowed us to get the powerplay working and get into a nice lead.
“It was important we didn’t switch off in the third and kept doing the little things right and get the result we deserved.
“The boys deserve tremendous praise for their response tonight and the way they played. It’s nice to get our first points on the board in the tournament.”
There’s no action tomorrow but GB next play on Thursday when they face Romania Under-20s at 3:30pm (1:30pm UK time).