BRAMPTON, Ontario — Jamie Lee Rattray scored the winner in the ninth round of the shootout and Canada beat the United States 4-3 Monday night in the final preliminary round game for both teams at the women’s world hockey championship.
The teams will turn their attention to the quarterfinals on Thursday after finishing 1-2 atop Group A.
Sarah Fillier had a goal and an assist and Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey scored in regulation for Canada. Goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens earned the win.
CANADA WINS!
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 11, 2023
After 9 rounds of the shootout, @hockeycanada 's Jamie Lee Rattray gets the GOAL! @hockeycanada 4-3 over @usahockey #WomensWorlds #CANUSA pic.twitter.com/Dn45DSIQq5
Hannah Bilka had a goal and an assist and Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel also scored for the Americans. Goaltender Aerin Frankel took the loss.
Rattray buried the winner on a slick deke after Desbiens and Frankel went toe-to-toe through eight rounds of the shootout before being mobbed by teammates.
Canada led 3-1 with 2:27 left in regulation when Stacey scored into an empty net.
But the U.S. wasn’t done.
Knight scored with 39 seconds remaining on a rebound to cut the deficit to one — the scoreboard in the arena lost power during the play, which was challenged for offside — before Kessel added an improbable equalizer with 3.4 seconds left, stunning the crowd and forcing overtime.
The U.S. killed off a penalty to Knight in the extra period before the American captain was stopped by Desbiens on a break later in OT.
Canada snapped a 1-all tie on a 5-on-3 power play three minutes into the second period when Poulin blasted a one-timer high past Frankel after a set-up from Erin Ambrose.
Natalie Spooner then tipped a point shot off the post with the teams playing 5-on-4 as the U.S. took four straight penalties in the middle period. But the Canadians were unable to build on that 2-1 lead heading to the third.
Canada killed a Fillier penalty early in the third and were assessed its second delay-of-game infraction of the game. But, the U.S. bailed out its rival when a botched line change led to an infraction for too many players on the ice, setting up the wild finish.
KESSEL TIES IT WITH 3.4 SECONDS LEFT ????
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 11, 2023
This game is headed to overtime!#WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/6rrhqADz1Q
The Canadians snapped the Americans’ streak of five straight world titles at the pandemic-delayed 2021 event in Calgary before securing Olympic gold at the 2022 Beijing Games.
Canada then picked up a second consecutive victory at the worlds in September in Denmark for the program’s third podium-topping performance in 12 months.
The U.S. entered 5-1 against Canada over the teams’ last six preliminary round meetings at the event, including a 5-2 victory in Denmark.
In other action, Finland closed out its preliminary round play unbeaten in four games, beating Hungary 5-0.
Sanni Ahola made 15 saves in the shutout. Nelli Laitinen, Jenni Hiirikoski, Jenniina Nylund, Emilia Vesa and Ronja Savolainen scored. Nylund, Vesa and Savolainen are in a five-way tie in scoring with four goals apiece along with teammate Viivi Vainikka and Sweden’s Lina Ljungblom.
Aniko Nemeth stopped 27 of 31 shots, and Zsuzsa Revesz allowed a goal on five shots in relief for Hungary.
The quarterfinals begin Thursday.
Hungary plays Germany on Tuesday to finish out Group B play with hopes of breaking into the top three to earn a quarterfinal berth. Hungary is in fourth place, behind Sweden, which plays France on Tuesday.
All five teams in Group A advance to the quarterfinals. The top three teams in Group B advance.
In a matchup of teams, looking for their first wins, Switzerland edged Japan 4-3.
Lara Stalder scored the winner with 9:06 remaining in regulation for the Swiss. Lara Christen, Nicole Vallario and Alina Muller also scored for Switzerland, which was down 2-0 early and behind 3-2 entering the third period. Andrea Braendli made 19 saves in the win.
Remi Koyama, Yoshino Enomoto and Aoi Shiga scored for Japan, and Riko Kawaguchi stopped 23 of 27 shots.
