updated 5:03 p.m. ET May 5, 2004

PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Matt Cullen of the Florida Panthers had two goals and an assist, leading the United States to a 8-3 win over Denmark in a qualifying round game Tuesday at the world hockey championships.

Bates Battaglia of the Washington Capitals, Erik Westrum of the Phoenix Coyotes, Chris Drury and Jeff Jillson of the Buffalo Sabres, Richard Park of the Minnesota Wild and Jeff Hamilton of the AHL’s Birdgeport Sound Tigers also scored for the United States.

The Americans had already clinched a quarterfinal berth against the Czech Republic, and U.S. coach Peter Laviolette said his players had a hard time concentrating against Denmark.

“One of the concerns we had as a group going in was that we have a very big, important game tomorrow night,” Laviolette said.

“Had this game meant something, I’m sure we would have approached it differently. But our mind-set wasn’t there at the start. We tried to prepare for it, but we weren’t in it.”

The United States, which won its first world championship title in Prague in 1933, will play the Czechs on Wednesday night.

“We’ve had tough matches all tournament so it’s only fitting that we play everyone and meet the Czechs in the quarterfinal,” Laviolette said. “It’ll be a great game, in front of the home fans, it’ll be loud and exciting. I think we’ll be OK against them.”

The Americans, who lost 5-2 to Denmark last year en route to a 13th-place finish, fell behind early.

Kim Staal gave Denmark a 1-0 lead 28 seconds in, the fastest goal of the tournament.

Battaglia tied it at 6:46 and Westrum made it 2-1 at 11:41. Denmark countered with goals by Kasper Degn and Michael Smidt to take a 3-2 lead less than 13 minutes into the first period.

Cullen tied it 3-3 and Drury put the Americans ahead for good late in the opening period.

“I thought that in the first eight minutes of the game that the fans would be treated to possibly the highest-scoring game in the history of the tournament,” Laviolette said.

Eric Weinrich of the St. Louis Blues, who joined the U.S. team on Tuesday for an American record ninth appearance at the worlds, did not have a point. Weinrich surpassed 1980 Olympic gold medalist Mark Johnson.

In other games, Switzerland advanced to the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory over Germany. Valentin Wirz scored for the Swiss, and eliminated Germany.

Anaheim goalie Martin Gerber making 28 saves in the shutout. Olaf Kolzig of the Washington Capitals stopped 22 shots for Germany.

In Wednesday’s other quarterfinal game, Sweden takes on Latvia. On Thursday, defending champion Canada takes on Finland, and Slovakia plays Switzerland.