Game Thread 4/1: USA vs Russia

Two teams from Group A that won their first preliminary games are playing today to remain undefeated and take one step closer to avoiding a game in the quarterfinals.

The United States Women’s National Team shutout Canada 2-0 last night. Brianna Decker and Gigi Marvin of the Boston Pride scored America’s goals and 22-year-old Nicole Hensley posted an 18-save shutout against Canada.

USA is expected to start goaltender Madeline Rooney today.

The Russian team, which features former NWHL stars Lyudmila Belyakova and Yekaterina Smolentseva, defeated Finland 2-1 yesterday. It was a huge victory for the Russians who were without star forwards Olga Sosina and Anna Shokhina (suspensions).

Russia scored both of its goals in the third period despite being out-shot by Finland 26-19 in the game. There was some controversy in Russia’s victory after renowned Finnish goaltender Noora Räty complained about her net not being held down by goal pegs.

Looks like Räty was right to complain.

You can watch today’s game live streaming on NHL.com and on the NHL Network.

The link to last night’s game proved to be hard to find. It went up just before puck drop - expect the same to be true for today’s matinee game.

After today’s game USA plays Finland on Apr. 3rd at 7:30pm. That game will be live streamed on NHL.com but will air on NHL Network on Apr. 4th at 10:00am.