Hilary Knight Makes History as USA Women's Hockey Beats Canada in 2026 Olympics Ahead of KO Bracket

The United States looks like the women's hockey team to beat in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

Team USA clinched the top seed in the upcoming knockout stage with a 5-0 shutout of Canada on Tuesday in Milan.

Hilary Knight made history during the win by recording her 32nd career Olympic point on Carolina Harvey's opening goal, tying her with Jenny Potter for the most points in the history of U.S. women's Olympic hockey.

Knight, who is skating in her fifth Olympics, has recorded 14 goals and 18 assists for Team USA.

Team USA dominated early against a Canadian team missing captain Marie-Philip Poulin to a lower-body injury she suffered during her team's Monday win over Czechia.

Harvey opened scoring just 3:45 into the first period after an offensive zone faceoff win for Team USA.

Abbey Murphy beat out Canada's back-checking effort later in the frame, then got the puck to Hannah Bilka in the slot on a no-look pass to increase Team USA's advantage to two goals.

Kirsten Simms added to Team USA's lead early in the second period with a goal that was challenged for interference on Canadian goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens but eventually cleared by officials.

Bilka then put Team USA up by four by scoring her second goal of the game on another sharp pass from Murphy.

Wisconsin's Laila Edwards, who hit the post twice earlier in the game, scored Team USA's fifth goal on an unassisted wrist shot late in the third period.

The United States ultimately outshot their opponents 27-20 in part thanks to five minor penalties taken by Canada.

Poulin's absence was particularly obvious on the Canadian power play. Team USA took two minors for illegal hits early in the second, but the Canadians were unable to take advantage of either opportunity.

Desbiens made 22 saves for Canada before Emerance Maschmeyer came in to close out the game.

Northeastern's Aerin Frankel recorded her second blank sheet of the Olympics with a 20-save shutout for the United States.

The United States improved to 4-0-0 in group play following blowout wins over Czechia, Finland and Switzerland. The Americans have overall outscored opponents 20-1 in the group stage.

Canada had meanwhile claimed a 4-0 win over Switzerland and a 5-1 victory over Czechia before Tuesday's defeat by the United States.

The Canadians will now await news as to Poulin's availability going forward.

She is currently day-to-day with her lower-body injury, although it is not yet confirmed whether she could be available for Thursday's group-stage matchup with Finland or Saturday's quarterfinal game.

Canada is heading into the knockout round as the defending Olympic champions after taking home gold during the 2022 Beijing Games. Either Canada or the United States have taken home gold in every Olympics since women's hockey was added to the Games in 1998.