USA Defeats Czech Republic Behind Dominant Third Period at 2022 Winter Olympics

The Team USA women's hockey team scored three third-period goals to stave off an upset bid from the Czech Republic with a 4-1 quarterfinal win at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Hilary Knight, Lee Stecklein, Savannah Harmon and Kendall Coyne Schofield scored for the Americans, who outshot the Czechs at Wukesong Arena in Beijing by a massive 59-6 margin but still found themselves on the brink of elimination until the outburst in the final period.

Michaela Pejzlova tallied the only goal for the Czech Republic, which was making its Olympic debut in women's ice hockey.

As the shot totals suggest, the U.S. was in firm control of the pace of play throughout the quarterfinal, including an 18-0 shot advantage in the first period.

It was the Czech Republic that struck first, however, as Pejzlova found the net just under five minutes into the second period on her team's second shot of the game.

Knight struck back for Team USA less than a minute later to tie the game, a crucial moment for a squad that had also struggled to capitalize on its scoring chances in the final period of a 4-2 loss to rival Canada in the final game of pool play.

Stecklein gave the U.S. its first lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first game of the knockout rounds, but there were still plenty of tense moments throughout the third period for the heavily favored Americans.

Harmon finally alleviated some of the pressure with a power-play goal with 3:09 left on the clock to make it a 3-1 game.

Coyne Schofield added an empty-netter in the final seconds to cap the scoring.

Team USA must wait for the results of the other quarterfinals to find out its opponent in the semifinals since the bracket is re-seeded before the penultimate round.

While the U.S. should be happy with how it dominated the run of play against the Czechs, its ability to chase down another gold medal will be contingent on converting scoring chances at a higher rate over the final two games of the tournament.

That's especially true if the likely rematch with Canada comes to fruition because the Canadian offense has been lethal throughout the event.