US women's hockey team beats Canada 4-1 in Edmonton to sweep Rivalry Series

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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Hilary Knight scored twice in the third period and the U.S. women's hockey team beat Canada 4-1 on Saturday night to sweep the four-game Rivalry Series.

The game was the last between the teams before they meet in a preliminary-round game in the Olympics on Feb. 10 in Milan.

“We expected them to come out swinging and were able to weather the storm,” U.S. coach John Wroblewski said. “This was a strong game and gives us a lot to think about as we head into Milan.”

Knight is retiring from international hockey after the Olympics. The 36-year-old U.S. caprtain scored the lone goal in the first Rivalry Series game between the countries back on Feb. 12, 2019.

“It’s special to be able to represent your country and to play against an awesome powerhouse of a hockey team as well,” Knight said. “We’re on the fortunate side of this year’s (series) and that felt pretty good.”

Defenders Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards also scored and Taylor Heise had two assists for the Americans. Aerin Frankel made 23 saves.

The Americans outscored the Canadians 24-7 in the series, also winning 4-1 in Cleveland on Nov. 6, 6-1 in Buffalo, New York, on Nov. 8 and 10-4 in Edmonton on Wednesday night.

“Nothing awesome comes easy,” Canadian captain Marie-Philip Poulin said. “We know there’s work to be done. I don’t think we can take those four games and get down on ourselves.”

Brianne Jenner scored for Canada. Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 28 shots.

Harvey opened the scoring at 5:13 of the second period. Jenner tied it a minute later, and Edwards put the Americans ahead to stay at 7:29 of the period.

In the third, Knight scored with 8:31 remaining and 1:37 left, the second into an empty net.

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AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey