Canada doubles up on rival U.S. to complete perfect round robin in women's hockey

Once again, it was Marie-Philip Poulin delivering the defining moment of a Canadian women's hockey victory over the U.S.

Canada's Captain Clutch scored on a short-handed penalty shot, Brianne Jenner added a pair and goalie Ann-Renée Desbiens made a whopping 51 saves in a 4-2 win to clinch the top spot in Group A on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.

The win means Canada finishes the preliminary round at 4-0, having outscored its opponents 33-5. The Americans enter the knockout rounds as the second seed.

But head coach Troy Ryan remains focused on what's ahead.

"I'd always rather be on this side of it, but history says it doesn't necessarily mean a lot. We are happy that we continue to gain confidence. We also like the fact that we didn't play our best but still found a way to win."

WATCH | Canada upends U.S. in preliminary action:

Barring a major upset, the sides will meet again in the gold-medal game on Feb. 16 at 11:10 p.m. ET at the Wukesong Sports Centre.

That's when true Olympic heroes will be made.

But the latest goal from Poulin, who's scored so many for Canada since her 2010 Olympic debut including two gold-medal clinchers, shouldn't be completely forgotten.

It was the first penalty-shot marker in Olympic women's hockey history. And it also may have served as a bit of redemption for the 30-year-old, who was stopped by American goalie Maddie Rooney with the game on her stick in the shootout of the 2018 Olympic final.

This time, Poulin made no mistakes, lifting the puck over Rooney's pad and inside the left post while moving in the opposite direction.

"You have one of the top players in the world going in on a penalty shot, so you get pretty excited," Desbiens told The Canadian Press. "She comes up clutch for us day in and day out and when it matters, that's when she's at her best. We saw that again today."

WATCH | Poulin converts on penalty shot:

The goal, Poulin's second of the tournament, gave Canada its first two-goal cushion of the game during a second-period that saw multiple momentum swings.

The Americans got on the board first in the wild frame with a pair of goals just over two minutes apart to take a 2-1 lead. After Dani Cameranesi pounced on a rebound to equalize the game at one, Alex Carpenter put one past Desbiens on the power play to give the U.S. its lone lead.

However, it didn't last long. Twenty-six seconds later, Jenner once again crashed the net, this time taking a slick feed from forward Sarah Nurse and depositing it into the back of the net.

"In the dressing room, we talked about not letting momentum swing, so that's something that we've been focusing on. Whenever we let a goal in, it's just a fresh start when the puck drops and forget what happens," Desbiens said.

About two-and-a-half minutes after that, Jamie Lee Rattray restored the Canadian lead, tucking one past Rooney off a beautiful assist from emerging star Sarah Fillier from behind the net.

A penalty against Canadian defender Jocelyne Larocque provided some tense moments soon after, but in the dying seconds of the kill, Poulin burst in between two American defenders for a breakaway. When one of them, Cayla Barnes, hooked Poulin just after she passed the blue line, the Canadians were awarded a penalty shot.

Poulin delivered, and it was curtains from there.

The Canadians had Desbiens to thank for the game to even get to that point.

Of the netminder's 51 saves, 16 came during a perfect first period in which Canada managed just four shots of its own.

"It didn't feel like a 50-something shot game, but it's just stopping one at a time. At the end of the game you look at the scoreboard, and you're like, 'Oh, OK, that's how many I had,'" Desbiens said.

At one point, the Americans managed nearly two straight minutes of offensive zone time. U.S. forward Abbey Murphy was sprung in alone on Desbiens, but her attempt caught iron, bounced off of the goalie's back and rattled the post once again.

Seconds later, an American shot from the point squeaked under Desbiens' pads, but Canadian defender Renata Fast was there to save the day, clearing the puck from in the crease behind her netminder.

"We'll definitely have to get [Desbiens] a coffee in the morning," Nurse said. "If only there was a Tim Hortons so that we could treat her after the game. She was such a huge part of this win and she's a big part of the team."

Despite all that, it was the Canadians sitting on a 1-0 lead at first intermission thanks to a power-play goal from Jenner.

Canada then seemed happy to sit back for most of the third period and protect its lead. The pace of the game slowed, Desbiens made the saves she needed to make and the Canadians ultimately escaped with the victory despite being outshot 53-27.

"We'd obviously like to manage the puck a little bit better to not be putting [Desbiens] in those situations, but in a game like this when you get goaltending like that, you find a way to win," Ryan said.

Canada now has six wins in nine Olympic contests against the U.S. It won four of six in the pre-Olympic exhibition series the two played over the past few months.

Canadian forward Mélodie Daoust, the leading goal- and point-scorer at the 2021 world championships, missed her third straight game after she was injured during the team's opener against Switzerland. Hockey Canada has said it expects Daoust back at some point in Beijing.

Next up for both teams are the quarter-finals, which take place between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12. Canada will play Sweden, the third-place team from Group B, while the Americans take on the Czech Republic, the second-place squad.

The quarter-finals were set after Sweden downed Denmark 3-1 and Finland blanked the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) 5-0 on Tuesday.

Japan, who defeated Czech Republic 3-2 in the other game, will face Finland in the quarter-finals.

ROC will play Switzerland. The winner of the matchup will face Canada or Sweden in the semifinal.

The semifinals go on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14.

You can watch all matches on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

WATCH | Replay of Canada's 4-2 win over United States in women's prelims: