The USA’s 5-0 win against rival Canada in the preliminary round was an anomaly in the history of Olympics women’s hockey.
The USA and Canada will meet on Thursday, Feb. 19, in the gold medal game (1:10 p.m. ET on USA/Peacock) and all of their previous six meetings in championship games have been close. In fact, the last three and four of the six have been 3-2 scores.
Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin and the USA’s Hilary Knight are likely to play key roles, not surprising considering Poulin is now the leading Olympic goal scorer and Knight has tied the U.S. Olympic record for goals and points.
In 2014, the USA held a 2-0 lead with five minutes left before Brianne Jenner made it 2-1. The Americans hit the post on a shot toward an empty net, then Poulin tied the game in the final minute. Knight was in the penalty box when Poulin scored in overtime.
The USA did the rallying in 2018 in a game in which both Knight and Poulin scored. Monique Lamoureux tied the game in the third period and her sister Jocelyne had the decisive goal to give the Americans a shootout win.
In 2022, Poulin scored twice for a 3-0 lead before Knight scored. Amanda Kessel made it 3-2 with 13 seconds left, but that ended up as the final score.
Canada is 4-2 against the United States in gold-medal games. Here are the previous scores:
USA vs. Canada gold medal game results
1998 gold medal game: 3-1 USA
2002 gold medal game: 3-2 Canada
2010 gold medal game: 2-0 Canada
2014 gold medal game: 3-2 Canada (OT)
2018 gold medal game: 3-2 USA (shootout)
2022 gold medal game: 3-2 Canada