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Team USA has beaten Canada 5-0 at the 2026 Winter Olympics, handing the Canadians their worst-ever defeat in women's hockey at the Olympics.
Hannah Bilka scored two goals for Team USA while Caroline Harvey, Kirsten Simms and Laila Edwards each added one.
Canada was without team captain Marie-Philip Poulin, who suffered a lower-body injury against Czech Republic yesterday.
Team USA finishes the preliminary round with a perfect 4-0 record and will face hosts Italy in the quarterfinals.
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Our projections model now gives the U.S. a 60 percent likelihood of winning the gold medal at these Olympics, dropping Canada to 40 percent. A strong shift towards Team USA after today's emphatic 5-0 win over Canada. (And perhaps not nearly strong enough!)
There were two reviews on Kirsten Simms’ second period goal, her first at the Olympics.
First, the refs looked to ensure the puck completely crossed the line, which it did. Then, Ryan challenged for goaltender inference. After a lengthy review, the refs maintained it was a good goal, despite the clear contact in the crease.
Kristin O’Neill also got into the blue paint, so it’s fair to assume that negated Simms’ interference in the eyes of the refs. But the rulebook states that a goal would be disallowed if an attacking player impedes the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely and defend the goal.
The moment ultimately didn’t matter in the end. There was a lot more going wrong for Team Canada than a bad review. Just add it to the list of examples of puzzling goalie interference calls.
Tuesday was our first real look at Team Canada without Poulin, without the emotion and adrenaline of wanting to win for their captain on Monday night. And it wasn’t all that impressive.
Canada only mustered four shots on goal to Team USA’s two goals in the first period. By the end of the second, Canada still only had 10 shots. They failed to establish a consistent and strong forecheck and had several defensive miscues that led directly to goals by Team USA.
The Sarah Nurse, Sarah Fillier and Daryl Watts combo took on the “top line” role and only got two shots on goal. Ryan also went back to his faithful Laura Stacey, Blayre Turnbull and Emily Clark line that he called “an anchor” for the team. And to her credit, Stacey might have been Canada’s best player.
By now, we’ve all seen the videos of the moment Poulin was hit by Czech forward Kristýna Kaltounková. Poulin stayed down on the ice for a moment, grimacing, and eventually skated back to the bench, putting minimal weight on her right leg.
She did not play in Tuesday’s game, but was in attendance in a suite with No. 3 goalie Kayle Osborne — and was given a nice applause by the crowd when shown on the center-ice video screen at the start of the second period.
That Poulin did not play it isn’t really worth reading into. At least where her availability for the remainder of the tournament is concerned. There’s optimism from Canada that Poulin will be able to return at some point before the end of the tournament. When that happens is still in question.
In 2021, Poulin missed the U.S. preliminary round game — which Canada won 5-1 — after taking a puck to the throat. She returned in the quarterfinals to a minimal role to gear up for the gold medal game, where she scored another game-winner.
If Poulin indeed returns in Milan, we can likely expect something similar. There’s just no need to risk playing her until the group stage is over. As heated as the rivalry is, Tuesday night’s game only counts for placement with all five teams in Group A — including Canada — moving on to the quarterfinals.
Canada’s quarterfinal match is four days away (Feb. 14); A return in the semifinals (Feb. 16) would give Poulin even more time to rest and be at her best when it matters most for the Canadians.
Hilary Knight, the future Hockey Hall of Famer, was credited with the secondary assist on Harvey’s first-period goal.
That tied Jenny Potter’s United States Olympic record with 32 points (14 goals, 18 assists).
If she scores again in the tournament in what will be her final of five Olympics, it will break the record for most Olympic goals by an American. She shares that mark with Natalie Darwitz and Katie King.
“It’s hard to put into words,” 22-year-old Haley Winn said of playing with Knight, 36. “She’s someone a lot of us have looked up to since we were little. I know I have a picture with her from when I was probably seven or eight. So to be able to play on a team with her, it leaves you kind of speechless, and you learn so much from her on and off the ice.
“She’s a great mentor, so to see her do so well, it isn’t really a surprise for us, but she’s definitely leading the team by example. So we’re lucky to have her.”
Abbey Murphy’s fingerprints were all over this game.
She tallied three assists, including a no-look backhand pass for Bilka’s second goal of the night, and got under Canada’s skin at every opportunity. In the first period, she collided with Ann-Renee Desbiens and locked her legs around Canada’s goaltender, which drew the ire of Sarah Fillier who retaliated with an interference penalty.
Later in the game, Kristin O’Neill gave Murphy a crosscheck, which got a grin from Murphy as she got up and O’Neill went to the box. In all, Murphy drew four of Canada’s five penalties.
It was the personification of the perfect Abbey Murphy game with her eye-popping skill and ability to get into Canada’s head on display. Canada, meanwhile, played right into her hand, giving a dangerous American power play time to get to work.
Finland defeats Switzerland 3-1 to capture its first win of the Milan Cortina Games.
Vainikka, Liikala and Vanhanen were the goal scorers for Finland.
The Finns play Canada on Thursday. With their victory, Finland is fourth in the Group A standings, with an opportunity to move up to second (where Canada currently sits).
Team USA has eight players making their Olympic debut in Milan in 2026, and they're having an impressive tournament as a group thus far.
These eight players combined for four goals and two assists tonight.
Troy Ryan confirms that Team Canada is very optimistic that Poulin will return later in the tournament.
Seems unlikely for the Finland game obviously.
Coming into the game, Canada's second line of Sarah Fillier, Sarah Nurse and Daryl Watts had a strong start to the tournament. Fillier and Watts put goals on the board in the first two games.
But tonight the Americans’ speed was too much for this line. They were a combined -7.
Not good enough.
With a goal and two assists tonight, Caroline Harvey is now tied for the tournament lead at the 2026 Winter Olympics with seven points (two goals, five assists). Germany's Laura Kluge has also recorded seven points.
Harvey or Abbey Murphy is expected to be the first player selected in this summer's PWHL Draft.
Look, there weren’t many positives for Canada on the scoresheet tonight. But here are the leaders in total ice time and shots for Canada:
Have a game, Laila Edwards. She led all skaters in total ice time today with 23:29.
She is so poised on the backend and she displayed that tonight, locking down the Canadian offense.
Edwards also showed off with that wicked snipe of a goal, an exclamation point on the Americans' dominant effort.
Another solid game for Hilary Knight tonight. She had one assist with three shots and was a +1.
Knight is one point away from setting a new U.S. Olympic scoring record for women’s hockey, having tied Jenny Potter's career mark of 32 today.
Shots on goal:
Power play:
Saves:
Penalty minutes:
Faceoff %:
Since women’s hockey has been introduced at the Olympic Games, Canada and U.S. have played in the preliminary round five times (including tonight).
The loser of the round-robin game has gone on to win the gold medal just once. That was in Pyeongchang 2018, when U.S. lost to Canada 2-1 in the round robin and won 3-2 in a shootout.
That history doesn't bode well for Canada.
What a performance across the preliminary round for Team USA. They comfortably win all four of their games, scoring five goals in each. They allowed only one goal in 240 minutes of game time, which came against Czech Republic on a breakaway as a player emerged from the penalty box.
Absolutely wild that this is the first time Team Canada was shut out at the Olympics.
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