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Canada 3 – USA 1, intermission – Sarah Nurse and Marie-Philip Poulin with two put Canada ahead in the first period. Hilary Knight put the Americans on the board when shorthanded.
Pre-game notes:
For the sixth time in seven Olympic finals, Canada and the United States will meet for the gold medal in women’s hockey. The match is presented at 11:00 p.m.
Canada has reached the final of every women’s hockey tournament since the sport made its Olympic debut in Nagano, Japan in 1998 and has met the United States in the final on every occasion except 2006.
The Americans won the first gold medal in Nagano, but the maple leaf representatives took the next four.
The Americans beat their rivals in the shootout in PyeongChang, South Korea four years ago.
The Americans won eight of nine world titles before the Canadians triumphed in overtime in Calgary last summer.
Canada’s 2022 team is the most prolific in Olympic Games history.
Canada outscored their opponents 54-8, which was a tournament record. In comparison, the United States led 28-8.
The Americans had more shots on net than the Canadians, 334 to 257. Canada’s players were more effective, however, with a 17.36 to 8.38 percentage.
The Americans will have to fend for themselves according to forward Brianna Decker, who suffered a knee injury in the first game of the tournament.
Canada forward Mélodie Daoust is back in the lineup. The Maple Leaf’s leading scorer at the last Worlds missed four games in Beijing due to an upper-body injury. She returned to help her team crush Switzerland 10-3 in the semi-finals.
Important matches are often played between the posts.
Ann-Renée Desbiens made 51 saves against the United States in the preliminary round, but she struggled more giving up three times on 13 shots against Switzerland.
The Americans used their three goaltenders in Beijing and they are using this questioning of which of the three will be the starter for the gold medal game to their advantage.
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