Captain Hilary Knight, the all-time leading Women's Worlds scorer, and Taylor Heise each added a goal and an assist.
"It was a big win," said Knight. "Finland's a great team, and we had all lines, all D-pairings going, which is really nice, and some great individual performances."
The U.S.'s Aerin Frankel won the duel of Group A starting goalies with Finland's Sanni Ahola. Coach John Wroblewski's opportunistic Americans outshot Finland 24-20 in front of 5,132 spectators.
In Ceske Budejovice, the Americans are looking to top the podium for the first time since 2023 and 11th time since the Women’s Worlds began in 1990. They settled for the silver medal last year in Utica, New York with a 6-5 overtime loss to archrival Canada.
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FINLAND V. UNITED STATES
GAME HIGHLIGHTS | CONDENSED GAME
The Finns earned the bronze in 2024, edging the Czechs 3-2 in a shootout. Remarkably, they own 14 of the 23 Women’s Worlds bronze medals awarded all-time. Their peak finish was 2019’s silver in Espoo when they controversially lost 2-1 to the U.S. in a shootout.
Finland hit the ice without longtime captain Jenni Hiirikoski, who will miss the tournament due to illness. The last time Hiirikoski did not play for Finland in IIHF competition was at the 2006 Olympics in Turin – more than 19 years ago.
"She's a huge person, not just only on the ice, but in the locker room too," said assistant captain Ronja Savolainen. "So obviously I miss her, and I think the whole team misses her. Michelle Karvinen has been taking her spot [as captain], and she's doing a great job. And I'm trying to [help fill in] for Jenni too. She's been teaching me a lot during these eight years playing with her."
Scamurra got the U.S. on the board at 2:44, banging a rebound past Ahola. And the Americans kept on coming. The Finns conceded a 2-on-0 rush shortly afterwards, but Lacey Eden misfired on Joy Dunne’s pass. Blueliner Savannah Harmon rang a shot off Ahola’s post. It was just a matter of time.
At 5:39, Scamurra doubled the U.S. lead, firing a shot from the blue line. Playing in her sixth Women’s Worlds, Scamurra equalled her single-tournament high in goals from 2022 in just one game. The 30-year-old Toronto Sceptres forward has one goal in 22 PWHL games this year. So this was a refreshing offensive outburst.
"I felt great," Scamurra said. "I always like to contribute on the board when I can, but I know that I contribute in other ways as well. So I was really focusing on that today, and the goals just happened to come along as well."
Pannek made it 3-0 at 12:58 on a nice passing play with Abbey Murphy.
Meanwhile, the Finns struggled to get good looks. Frankel was there to say no when her Boston Fleet teammate Susanna Tapani got loose for a backhand attempt and when Viivi Vainikka tested her from the slot.
Just 55 seconds into the second period, blueliner Lee Stecklein put the game out of reach, curling in from the left point to tuck a backhander between Ahola's legs. Stecklein, a 2018 Olympic champion and six-time world champion, returned to the U.S. lineup for the first time since stepping away from the national team after the 2023 Women's Worlds.
Knight said of Stecklein: "It's awesome to have her back in the mix. We were missing her the last few years. So I'm really happy that she decided to join us again."
With Murphy off for an illegal hit, Petra Nieminen blew a power play one-timer past Frankel from the right faceoff circle at 8:03 to end Frankel's shutout bid.
But Knight struck back 16 seconds later, converting a feed from Alex Carpenter after a Finnish defensive zone turnover, to quash any comeback hopes.
"She's just incredible," Scamurra said of Knight. "I think she's the ultimate professional player. It's really easy to follow her lead when she's out there blocking shots, leading the rush and making the little plays"
Early in the third period, Heise and Pannek added goals 22 seconds apart to round out the U.S. lead at 7-1. Finnish coach Juuso Toivola called his timeout and remonstrated with his players.
The last Women’s Worlds before an Olympics is often a time for roster experimentation. The Finnish roster includes four Women’s Worlds rookies: forward Ida Kuoppala and defender Elli Suoranta made their debuts against the Americans. The U.S. sat out both their first-timers – defender Anna Wilgren and backup goalie Ava McNaughton – along with forward Jesse Compher.
Only twice in tournament history has Finland taken points from the Americans: a 3-3 tie in 1997 and a 1-0 overtime win in 2008. This was the 15th straight U.S. Women’s Worlds win over Suomi. The last meeting saw the U.S. post a 5-0 shutout in the 2024 semi-finals.
Next up, Finland faces defending champion Canada on Thursday, while the U.S. takes on the host Czechs on Friday.
"We need to battle harder.," Savolainen said. "Need to be stronger, more careful on the blue line. I think we lost a lot of pucks there, so they can make a turnover and obviously score. But it's the first game. We need to learn something and move forward. It's going to be Canada tomorrow, and it's going to be even harder again, too."
