In Pool A of the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship, Team USA fought an early penalty shootout for the second night in a row, but won again on Saturday, defeating Finland 5-3 and improving to 3-0 in Pool A. Stretched to.
In Friday's 6-0 shutout of the Czech Republic, the Americans sank five penalties in the first half, while Finland scored its first goal on Saturday, on a power play by Elisa Holopainen during the first intermission. They tied the score with two goals.
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Another penalty (USA's sixth) led directly to the go-ahead goal in the second period. Taylor Heise left the box after six minutes of play for a hook, took a quick pass from Abbey Murphy and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff circle to the left of goaltender Ani Keisara, scoring eight seconds later. decided.
Kendall Coyne Schofield scored four minutes later to give the Americans their first two-goal lead of the game. Haley Wynn of Rochester provided the assist.
With a two-point advantage, the U.S. was in a corner until the end of the second period, but Finland, who had been held to just three shots up until that point, saw Susanna Tapani send a long outlet pass to Sofiana Sanderlin at the far blue line. Ta. Sanderlin penetrated the offensive zone ahead of the American defense and fired a backhand shot to the left of goaltender Aerin Frankel.
Finland scored with 40 seconds left in the second period. The United States scored 15 seconds into the third. Coyne Schofield scored her second goal of the night and third of the tournament in the opener with assists from Alex Carpenter and Hilary Knight.
Holopainen opened the scoring at 6:54 of the first period with Finland's second goal of the tournament. Goals from Murphy and Knight gave the U.S. a 2-1 lead, and Holopainen scored again with 25 seconds left in the opening period. Holopainen's goal stopped Kelly Panek's second move into the penalty area, but the U.S. took a bench penalty for delaying the game on that play, and Finland's power play started again until the second period. Extended. The American team defeated Finland 45-12. Keisala made 40 saves in his first appearance for Finland, and Frankel made nine saves for the United States.
Team USA (3-0-0-0) will have Sunday off and conclude pool play on Monday against Canada (2-0-0-0). Canada will play the Czech Republic on Sunday afternoon.
Finland (0-3-0-0) will play Switzerland (0-2-0-0) on Monday afternoon.
