HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Sarah Nurse scored with less than five minutes left and Canada beat the United States 3-2 Thursday night after losing the first three games of the seven-game Rivalry series.
Moments after missing its chance for a power play, Canada took the lead when Nurse shot from a bad angle at the end of the goal line to beat goaltender Maddie Rooney.
“Sometimes tricky shots can come in, you put the puck on the net, you put the goaltender in a bad position, so that’s what happened tonight,” Nurse said. “That’s why we have our goalkeeper coach, he studies these girls we play against and he does a great job of putting together packages.”
Jamie Lee Rattray and Blayre Turnbull also scored for Canada, and Kristen Campbell stopped 21 shots. Amanda Kessel and Hilary Knight scored for the Americans and Rooney made 13 saves.
The series will resume on Saturday in Los Angeles.
“I like the way the players play instinctively in this series,” USA coach John Wroblewski said. “As coaches, it feels like trying to give them a plan to play with, but it’s not as much of a chess game as you’ll see it sometimes (on the men’s side). Women , they play instinctively, they play with a ton of passion, and it’s another close game that really could have gone either way.
Kessel opened the scoring when she reached behind Rattray to hit Kendall Coyne-Schofield’s pass to the gate in the first period.
It turned out to be a goal heard on social media, as his brother Phil scored for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights around the same time in Chicago, send shockwaves on twitter.
“I tried to charge it for the last five minutes here and I can’t see it,” Kessel said moments after the game of his brother’s goal. “So, I wonder if it was better than mine.”
Rattray tied the game for Canada when she stole the puck, skated alone on a breakaway and beat Rooney at 6:51 of the second. Turnbull gave the Canadians the lead with just over a minute left in the second.
Knight scored on a breakaway in the third.
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