United States dominates Finland at Women's Worlds

HERNING, Denmark — Team USA outshot Finland 72-16 and got two goals from Amanda Kessel in a 6-1 preliminary round win Saturday, Aug. 27 at the IIHF Women's World Championship.

With a 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes thanks to a Jincy Dunne marker and a 28-2 shot advantage, power play goals in the second period from Abby Roque and Kessel all but sealed the deal for the Americans. The U.S. held the Finns to just seven shots through 40 minutes.

U.S. captain Kendall Coyne Schofield picked up assists on both power play goals in the second frame, including a perfectly executed set up from below the left circle that led to Kessel's tally at 17:11 of the period.

Finland gave itself a chance to come back when Ella Vitasuo found the back of the net 46 seconds into the third period on a screened shot to the high blocker side of U.S. goalie Maddie Rooney, but Team USA answered right back with Kessel's second of the contest off a behind-the-back pass from Taylor Heise to restore its three-goal cushion. The Americans tacked on an empty-netter from Hannah Bilka and a late score from Hannah Brandt to seal the 6-1 win.

Rooney didn't get a lot of action until the third period, stopping 15 of the 16 shots she faced in her tournament debut. In total, U.S. goalies have seen only 23 shots in their two preliminary round games thus far.

Finnish goalie Anni Keisala stopped 66 of the 71 shots she faced for a .929 save percentage, despite giving up five goals.

The matchup was the 22nd meeting between the U.S. and Finland in Women’s Worlds history, with the Americans holding a lopsided 20-1-1 record over the Finns.

Next up for the United States is a matchup with Switzerland on Monday, Aug. 29 at 12 p.m. CT before the preliminary round wraps up against Canada on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. CT.