Peters: Canada finds a way, beats USA 4-2 in preliminary round finale at Olympics
In the first Olympic meeting between the United States and Canada since the thrilling 2018 gold medal game that ended in a shootout, Canada managed to get the 4-2 win in regulation to take first place in Group A as the women’s hockey tournament heads to the playoff round. Brianne Jenner scored each of the first two goals for Canada, while Ann-Renée Desbiens made 51 saves to secure the preliminary-round victory.
This is the third straight Olympics that Canada has won the preliminary-round meeting between the two teams, but one Canada may feel most fortunate to escape with the three points. USA out-shot their North American rivals 53-27, but held the lead in the game for only 26 seconds.
Jenner’s second goal may have been the turning point in the game. The U.S. had just scored two goals in just over two minutes of clock time, but Jenner managed to follow up a loose puck after a turnover initially forced by Sarah Nurse to tie the game. It was a huge response from Canada after USA had held a decisive possession advantage for much of the game to that point.
Just 2:25 later, Jamie Lee Rattray converted on a slick around-the-net feed from Natalie Spooner to give Canada the 3-2 lead. To complete the dramatic sequence, Captain Clutch Marie-Philip Poulin drew a penalty shot three minutes later. Poulin converted, fully turning the the momentum in the Canadians’ favor and forcing the Americans to climb a two-goal hill that proved too great.
When the Americans look back on this game, they’ll likely be most disappointed in their inability to convert on the power play. They went 1-for-6 on the advantage and struggled to generate meaningful scoring chances. This is a problem that goes back to the World Championship in Calgary when it comes to playing in this rivalry series.
Goalie Maddie Rooney, one of the heroes of the U.S. victory in 2018, stopped 23 of 27 shots in her second loss in six career Olympic games.
Analysis
Canada battled through: The sting of the 2018 loss probably still hasn’t worn off and that’s fueling Team Canada in these Olympics. Since the puck dropped, they’ve looked like a team on a mission, rolling over everyone. This time, they took the Americans’ best punch, doing it on short rest and found a way to win the game while bewildering their opponents who just kept pouring shot after shot on net.
Canada’s speed wasn’t as evident against the similarly swift Americans, but the precision skills Canada possesses and their ability to get inside presence between the faceoff dots made a huge impact in their ability to put four pucks past Maddie Rooney.
Shot-blocking was also excellent in the game as Canada frustrated the U.S. power play by knocking pucks away and not allowing second-chance opportunities. They could afford to clean up some of their exits and puck management in their own zone, but they made it hard for the Americans to get to the middle of the ice and attack the net.
Canada could have had a lot of easy excuses to not win this game. It was their second game in less than 24 hours after the previous day’s game was delayed due to COVID protocol issues. They also had to deal with the stress and uncertainty of the delayed game between them and Russian Olympic Committee. But the focus never waned and it showed in their resilience in a tough game, finding a way to get one over on their American rivals again.
Canada has now won six of nine previous Olympic meetings between these two countries.
Natalie Spooner on track for historic tournament: Natalie Spooner assisted on Jamie Lee Rattray’s go-ahead goal to collect her 11th point of the tournament through just four games. Spooner is already are tied for seventh most points in a single Olympics. Hayley Wickenheiser holds the record of 17 points in a single tournament, doing it in five games in 2006. Spooner will have a maximum of seven games played should Canada advance as expected. If Spooner keeps up her 2.75 points-per-game pace, she could become the new record-holder. Either way, she’ll need just one more point to become one of only six women in tournament history with 12 or more points.
In 10 previous Olympic games over the 2014 and 2018 events, Spooner had six points total. She’s about to enter rarified air in her third Olympics.
Canada’s net in good hands with Ann Renée-Desbiens: The 27-year-old Desbiens has had to wait very patiently for her chance to be the No. 1 for Canada. Stuck behind Shannon Szabados last time around, Desbiens forcefully announced herself as the elite goaltender in women’s hockey with her 51-save performance against the U.S.
While the defense did a good job of keeping most shots to the outside, there were a few instances where Desbiens had to battle and make a key stop. She allowed just one goal at five-on-five on a rare rebound that wasn’t cleared away. She never once looked rattled at any point in the game.
Through three games in Beijing, Desbiens owns a .959 save percentage and 1.33 goals-against average.
Postitives for the Americans: The U.S. is not going to be happy about the loss, nor should they be pleased with their power play, but they did just put 53 shots on goal, out-shooting Canada 2-1. While they could have done a better job getting inside, they owned the puck a lot in this game. That may be a small moral victory in that it proves they can dominate the possession game.
Olympic rookie Abby Roque was also a bright spot, winning 11 of her 12 faceoffs and pouring six shots on goal. She’s been thrust into an elevated role due to the injury to USA veteran star Brianna Decker and hasn’t shrunk from the spotlight. Roque hasn’t produced as much as her teammates, but she seems to be on the verge of a breakout.
Abbey Murphy, one of two 19-year-olds on Team USA’s roster, was a spark plug in the first period, generating the team’s best scoring chance, which nicked off the post twice. She’s skilled, but also gritty and definitely was getting under her opponents’ skin. Players like her can go a long way in winning in the margins of rivalry games like this one, but she didn’t see the ice as much down the stretch as more veteran players got longer looks.
Alex Carpenter led Team USA with eight shots on goal, and scored the only power-play tally off of a beautiful feed from Amanda Kessel. Carpenter is Team USA’s leading goal-scorer with four goals, while Kessel has six points to lead all Americans in the tournament.
The Americans have plenty of time to make adjustments and figure out how to better break through when they had so many opportunities. The U.S. is going to have to figure out why their scoring efficiency hasn’t been all that good. They’ve scored on 8.5% of their shots so far in this tournament, while leading all teams with 233 shots on net. Conversely, Canada is scoring on an absurd 17% of their shots on goal. You can say pucks are eventually going to start going in for the U.S. more, but in short tournaments like these, you don’t really have the luxury to wait for that to happen naturally.
A look ahead
These two teams appear destined for another gold-medal matchup. It would take a miraculous upset from one of the other entrants in the tournament to knock either team off course.
All advancing teams will play in the quarterfinals which will take place over Friday and Saturday, the semis are set for Monday, Feb. 14 with the Gold Medal game scheduled for Feb. 17.
The winner of the preliminary-round game between these two clubs have gone on to win the gold medal in three of the previous four Olympics in which that happened. That streak was disrupted in 2018.
In the grand scheme of things, this game is little more than a prelude to the big dance, but Canada definitely sent a message with their ability to survive in a game like this. It’s going to be a long nine-day wait for the encore of what should be another classic episode of one of the greatest rivalries in sports today.