The Canadian women’s hockey team has won the latest edition of one of the top rivalries in winter sports thanks in large part to a tremendous goaltending performance.
Ann-Renee Desbiens made 51 saves as Canada (4-0) beat the United States 4-2 in first-round action on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.
The Americans (3-1) had a 53-27 edge in shots, but gave up three consecutive goals to close the second period — putting the Canadians in front 4-2.
Both teams advance to the quarterfinals later this week. They’re heavily favoured to meet again in the gold-medal game on Feb. 16 at 11:10 p.m. ET.
The Americans beat the Canadians in a shootout to win Olympic gold in 2018 in Pyeongchang. That ended Canada’s four-Olympic run as champs.
Canada beat the Americans in overtime in the world championship final last year in Calgary.
On Tuesday, Canada withstood an early barrage by the Americans, who outshot the Canadians 16-5 in the first period but trailed 1-0 on the scoreboard.
Brianne Jenner, with two, Jamie Lee Rattray and Marie-Philip Poulin, on a penalty shot, scored for Canada.
Jenner tied it at 2-2 just 26 seconds after Alex Carpenter put the Americans in front midway through the second.
Rattray and Poulin followed with goals before the second period came to a close.
Meanwhile, another Russian player has tested positive for COVID-19 after playing against Canada on Monday.
Russian Olympic Committee team coach Evgeny Bobariko tells state news agency RIA Novosti that Polina Bolgareva tested positive.
The forward played against Canada in a game Monday which was delayed because of virus concerns on both teams before the Russians and Canadians agreed to start the game in masks. The Canadians kept their masks on and won 6-1.
The Russians removed theirs at the start of the third period.
Bobariko says the team found out about the positive test after arriving back at the Olympic village following the game.
Russia has eight players unavailable in Beijing because of the virus and another player was left in Moscow after a positive test. Bobariko says “I don’t know how it’s happening.”
— With files from The Associated Press
