Hilary Knight Leads Comeback Victory For U.S. Women’s Hockey Over Canada
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by Bob Reinert
Hilary Knight battles for the puck against Emerence Maschmeyer of Canada in the second period at the PPL Center on Oct. 22, 2021 in Allentown, Penn.
Three-time Olympic medalist Hilary Knight scored twice, including 54 seconds into overtime, to give the U.S. women’s hockey team a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Canada before a crowd of 4,212 Sunday at Leon’s Centre in Kingston, Ontario.
The game was part of the My Why Tour, a series of games between the longtime rivals in advance of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Canada now leads the nine-game series 2-1. The two teams previously met at the end of October in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Hartford, Connecticut, with Canada taking 3-1 and 3-2 decisions, respectively.
The Americans are the defending Olympic champions, having snapped Canada’s streak of four consecutive gold medals by beating their northern neighbors in a thrilling 2018 final.
The first period Sunday was scoreless, though the Americans outshot Canada 7-4. Each team had its share of opportunities in the opening 20 minutes.
Canada finally broke through with a power-play goal by Marie-Philip Poulin as the second period began. Sarah Fillier made it 2-0 by scoring off a faceoff less than two minutes later.
Then the Americans came roaring back in the third. Hayley Scamurra’s tally cut the advantage to 2-1, and then the first of Knight’s two scores on the night tied it at 2-2.
“She’s an unconventional goal scorer,” said U.S. coach Joel Johnson of Knight. “She just finds a way to put the puck in the net.”
Though Canada continued to put pressure on the U.S. as the third period commenced, the Americans took the initiative and found the net for the game’s final three goals.
Johnson said the comeback victory was an important one for his team.
“It showed a great degree of resilience,” Johnson said. “I was really excited to see us just continue to play the same way and finally find a way to put the puck in the net.”
The next meeting with Canada will take place at 7 p.m. ET Tuesday at Ottawa’s TD Place Arena. The game will be broadcast on the NHL Network.
Three home games remain for Team USA: Dec. 15 and 17 at Centene Community Ice Center in St. Louis and at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Dec 20. The final 23-player roster for the U.S. Olympic team will be announced Jan. 1 at the NHL Winter Classic in Minneapolis.