Canada edges U.S. in shootout at women's worlds

BRAMPTON, Ontario — Jamie Lee Rattray scored the winner in the ninth round of the shootout and Canada defeated the United States 4-3 Monday night in the final preliminary round game for both teams at the Women’s World 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. Goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens earned the win.

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 1-1 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.

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.