Olympic Hockey Results 2018: USA, Canada Win on Sunday
The two favorites in the women's hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, opened their play on Sunday morning, with the United States facing Finland and Canada taking on the Olympic Athletes of Russia.
Below, we'll break down those results.
The United States beats Finland, 3-1
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It took the United States' women a while to solve Finnish goalkeeper goalkeeper Noora Raty. But they eventually cracked the code, earning their first win in Pyeongchang in the process.
Finland's Venla Hovi opened the scoring with just 5.8 seconds remaining in the first period, but the United States took over from there, as Monique Lamoureux-Morando and Kendall Coyne each notched second-period tallies in a 3-1 victory. Dani Cameranesi's empty-net goal late in the third period iced the win for the United States.
Goalkeeper Maddie Rooney, meanwhile, saved 23 of the 24 shots she faced.
"It was tremendously important," Coyne said of Sunday's win, per Scott Charles of NBCOlympics.com. "We want to win the game, and I don't think we got down when we went down one-nothing. We stuck to our game plan."
"In order to be the best, you need to beat the best," she added. "It was a great first start, and our focus now turns to the Olympics Athletes from Russia."
The second period was the key, as the Americans outshot Finland in the period, 23-5, upping their pace of play while consistently pressuring the offensive zone.
The Americans peppered the Finnish goal on Sunday morning, forcing Ray to make 40 saves. Were it not for the Finnish star's strong performance, the United States likely would have won by a larger margin, as they largely controlled the game.
"If she can see it, it's probably not going in," Lamoureux-Morando noted of Raty. "We're going to face some tough goalies in this tournament so to bury two in the second was good for us, but moving forward, I'd like [us] to score a few more goals."
The Americans certainly weren't caught off guard by the stiff competition they faced in Finland.
"I expected this," U.S. coach Robb Stauber said, according to Wayne Drehs of ESPN.com. "It's not shocking that they can score goals and that they are going to play hard. We were ready to play 100 percent tonight. I would suspect if we weren't, we would have been in trouble. We expect this tournament to be hard-fought. And tonight it was."
Things won't get easier for the United States, which will next face the Olympic Athletes of Russia on Tuesday. Ditto for Finland, which will take on the gold-medal favorite Canadiens that same day.
Canada Beats the Olympic Athletes of Russia, 5-0
The Canadian women left little doubt as to why they are the favorites in Pyeongchang, easily dispatching of the Olympic Athletes of Russia on Sunday, 5-0.
Like the United States before them, Canada owned the second period, as Rebecca Johnston, Haley Irwin and Melanie Daoust all found the back of the net. Johnston wasn't done there, sniping a top-shelf goal in the third period from a tough angle to make it 4-0.
Daoust added the team's fifth goal on the power play later in the third.
OAR goalkeeper Nadezhda Morozova put up a good fight in the first period, stopping 15 shots to preserve a scoreless draw. But Canada's relentless attack and time on the power play was simply too much for Morozova and her Russian teammates to handle.
By the time the final whistle blew, Canada had registered a whopping 48 shots to just 18 for the Russians.
In total, the Canadiens went on the power play seven times, scoring twice, while OAR was held goalless on its two attempts with an extra skater.
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