Despite leading 53–27, the Canadians did more with their chances to top the United States in the preliminary round final matchup. But there are big games going on.
BEIJING: What Canada did in the Olympic women's hockey tournament has been cowardly, diabolical and effective Tuesday's match against Team USA.
The Canadiens entered the game, winning their first three games of Group A, beating opponents 29–3. He achieved another impressive feat at the Wuxong Sports Center on Tuesday.
During these Olympics, I have covered my first curling match, alpine skiing for the first time and now have covered a hockey game in which a team won 4-2 despite leading 53-27.
Despite what Canada did to make scoring tough on Team USA on Tuesday, there should be plenty of Grade A scoring chances out of the amount of 53.
"No," said forward Hilary Knight, "because we didn't win, right?"
Knight knows what USA's offense is capable of and hopes to produce more quality opportunities as they move into the quarterfinal rounds of the tournament.
"I saw how good we are at shooting," she said, "so I can't wait for it to drop when we get into the game environment."
Team USA beat Canada 16–5 in the first round as it played most of the game. Grace Zumwinkle, Kelly Pannek and Dani Camarnassi's line dominated the entire night. Zumwinkle reached the net in six minutes, but had her shot stalled.
Abhay Murphy had 10 minutes left, but his shot missed the mark.
Then Caroline Harvey was called in for crosschecking, and everything changed. Exactly 36 seconds later, Bryan Jenner took a feed from Sarah Fillier and flipped a shot over the shoulder of United States goaltender Maddie Rooney. Team USA had just won a faceoff on their own end, but overturned the puck in an attempt to clear the zone. Not good during power play. Canada took a 1-0 lead in the first half.
"We haven't executed some of the plays we normally execute defensively," said United States coach Joel Johnson. "And almost every time it happened, it ended up behind our trap, and so there's no excuse, just looking for a solution."
Scored five goals in the second period. Team USA took a 2-1 lead after a goal from Camarenasi, which was inevitable, and the latest by Alex Carpenter. Then the defense of the United States broke down.
Jenner scored a power play goal to tie the game. Then Natalie Spooner, who had been a handful all night, broke loose near the corner and fed Jamie Lee Rattray, who unrolled in front of Mooney and scored for a 3-2 Canadian lead. These are things that USA Defense needs to clean up.
Renowned pain reliever Mary-Philippe Paulin made it 4-2 as Mooney filled a penalty shot after a suspicious slashing call on the breakaway.