The Americans didn’t have Brianna Decker in the lineup, but no matter. They skated their way to an impressive and one-sided 5-0 win over ROC to keep pace with Canada atop the Group A standings. The only reason the score didn’t reach double digits was the play of ROC goalie Maria Sorokina, who was nothing short of sensational. 

The win was the third in a row at the Olympics against Russian-based teams for the U.S., who, oddly, had defeated Russia (2010) and OAR (2018) previously, both by shutouts, in their only other meetings. And to add to the trivia, today's shutout was recorded by Nicole Hensley, who had to stop only 12 shots. She was also the goalie in that 2018 victory, also by a 5-0 score, in what was her only other Olympics game to date. In fact, ROC/OAR/Russia has yet to score a single goal against the Americans in Olympics play (the 2010 game ended 13-0).

"I thought we played really well," said U.S. coach Joel Johnson. "I thought we generated possession. We generated a lot of shot opportunities, but a combination of good goaltending and the style that they played limited our quality chances. We just had to continue to make adjustments. It starts with defence, and we just had to trust the process and hope that we could eventually find some high-quality scoring chances and pucks to the net, and we got that in the third."

The Americans are now 2-0 in the standings so far while ROC drops to 1-1 after a  5-2 win over the Swiss yesterday. They got goals from five players, while Sorokina and Daria Gredzen faced a combined 62 shots. Gredzen came into the game in the third period, and the 17-year-old, making her debut with the senior team, stopped all 14 saves to make for a memorable debut. Uniquely, both goalies are right catching.

"The difference was the speed," ROC coach Yevgeni Bobariko acknowledged. "We did everything we could. I said a lot of good words to the girls in the dressing room, and our goalkeeper kept us in the game for as long as she could. I replaced her only to give her some rest."
 
Right from the opening puck drop it was clear the Americans were the superior team. Sorokina made an early and excellent save on captain Kendall Coyne Schofield who skated her way in on goal and made a nice deke, only to be stopped by the goalie. But the U.S. was relentless, and kept the puck in the ROC zone for extended periods, generating plenty of scoring chances. 
 
It wasn’t until 12:29 that they finally scored. The goal came on a power play when Hilary Knight made a nice back pass across the crease to Savannah Harmon, who was stationed on the back side for the easy tap-in. It was her first goal in a Team USA sweater, having gone without one in her only previous appearance with the national team, that at last year’s Women’s Worlds. 

"It was indescribable," Harmon enthused of her goal. "Hilary did all the hard work. I was in the right spot and she made it happen. She’s an incredible leader and an incredible player, and she just makes everybody around her better."

"We practiced that in the pre-game skate," Knight added, "and I just told Sav, ‘Just find yourself down there on the dot, and I’ll find you.’" And she did.
 
ROC managed only two shots in the opening 20 minutes, but their best chance wasn’t one of those. Valeria Pavlova blocked a shot at her blue line and raced up the ice, but before she could let off a shot defender Cayla Barnes rushed back to take the puck away from her.
 
The second period was more of the same, although ROC did manage to create a bit more offence. Coyne Schofield was again stoned early on a deke, but Harmon was in the middle of the team’s second goal. This time her point shot was tipped in front by Knight, beating Sorokina up high at 8:51. Knight has now scored in all four Olympics appearances.

"I’m just trying to get the puck on net," Harmon described, "and I look up and Hill’s in front, and she’s screening. She’s one of the best tippers. Again, she’s in the right spot doing all the hard work."

At the other end, Hensley was there when she needed to be. She made a nice left-pad save off a shot from the slot by Polina Luchnikova, and late in the period the U.S. got caught up ice, giving ROC a two-on-one. The nicely-executed play saw Viktoria Kulishova with a one-timer, but Hensley came across to make the save.

ROC started the third on a power play, but again Hensley was there when needed, and although ROC had some decent puck movement they also failed to convert a couple of other good chances. The Americans then made it 3-0 after ROC failed to clear the zone. Dani Cameranesi chased down the puck in the corner and fired a quick pass to the front where Grace Zumwinkle eluded her check and tipped the puck in at 3:57.

Two minutes later, Jesse Compher added another goal off the rush, using a defender as a screen and beating the right-catching Sorokina low to the stick side. And then, less than three minutes later, Sorokina stopped an Amanda Kessel slot shot only to see Alex Carpenter knock in the rebound. 

Bobariko mercifully made a goalie change, probably to give Sorokina a bit more rest in preparation for the team's next game against Canada, so Gredzen skated into the blue ice and almost immediately had to make a sensational save on Knight. In all, she was perfect, but by then the game was well out of reach.

"It was a resilient effort from the team," Knight said. "Obviously, we came up against a hot goaltender but Nicole Hensley was lights out for us back there making some big stops for us. And Savannah Harmon and Grace Zumwinkle and some of these other players really stepped up and found the back of the net when we needed it most."

Up next for the Americans are the Swiss, tomorrownight, while ROC gets a day off now before facing Canada on Monday afternoon.