Team USA Tops Finland, 5-0, in Olympic Winter Video games Preliminary Spherical Contest

Team USA doubled its lead 2:31 into the second stanza, when Abbey Murphy (Evergreen Park, Ill./University of Minnesota) slid the puck throughout the slot to Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn./Minnesota Frost) on the doorstep on a three-on-one alternative, and Heise shoved the puck previous Finnish netminder Sanni Ahola. Britta Curl additionally earned an help on the objective.

Just 66 seconds later, Keller carried the puck out to the highest of the crease from the left nook of the offensive zone after which beat Ahola five-hole with a backhand tally to present the U.S. a 3-0 benefit. 

In the closing seconds of a U.S. energy play with 10:43 remaining within the center body, Knight scored off a short-side snipe from simply above the objective line to tie the all-time objective report for an American on the Winter Olympics. Edwards and Keller notched assists on the objective.

Murphy added to the tally with 4:04 remaining within the contest, capitalizing with a back-door tap-in off a go from Caroline Harvey (Salem, N.H./University of Wisconsin). Heise added an help on the fifth and closing objective of the competition.

Aerin Frankel (Chappaqua, N.Y./Boston Fleet) stopped all 11 pictures she confronted to earn the shutout for Team USA.

Team USA is again in preliminary spherical motion Monday (Feb. 9) towards Switzerland at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Puck drop is slated for 8:40 p.m. CET (2:40 p.m. ET) and the sport shall be broadcast on USA Network and streamed on Peacock.

NOTES: Team USA outshot Finland, 49-11 … The U.S. went 2-6 on the ability play, whereas Finland didn’t have an influence play.